The Fall of the House of Usher

(James Sibley & Melville Webber/USA/1928)

This 10 minute adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe story is an impressionistic and surreal interpretation that utilises experimental techniques and artistic designs that would have been way ahead of the time in 1928. It disposes of traditional narrative by inter-frame titles and relies wholly on the audience piecing the story together from the scenes presented. Some background knowledge of the Poe story helps in a full understanding of what’s going on but it also works as a standalone sensory cinematic experience. 

Full of multiple exposures and chiaroscuro lighting it resembles a dream at times, or an opium reverie (the drug is referenced in the original story). Some of the set design looks decidedly Cubist in style and is reflected too in a lot of the shot framing. The clashing montage of stairs and the random words appearing as things escalate perfectly portray the psychosis on screen. It builds tension to its climactic scenes of the “fall” of the house in visuals and music and is an amazing piece of cinema for its time.

(4.5/5)

Ready Player One

(Steven Spielberg/2018/USA)

Here is a fine example of taking a great book and transforming it into a mediocre film. Spielberg must have been on autopilot here, the nuance and excitement of the novel is reduced to cinematic trope and bland, box ticking Hollywood script fare.  Disappointing on many levels but it is Spielberg and even a run of the mill effort elicits a few decent action sequences.

(2/5)

Moomins on the Riveria

(Xavier Picard/2014/France & Finland)

The Moomins, in what is essentially a reboot, go sailing, get hijacked by pirates, shipwrecked on an island and eventually make their way to the Riviera where they encounter a variety of characters that intrude upon the equilibrium of the Moomin family. Driven by Sophia Jansonn, the niece of Moomin creator Tove Jansonn and daughter of Lars Jansonn, the original animator of the comics this production captures a lot of the originals straight forward storytelling and quiet morality. For someone who grew up with the Polish stop motion adaptation, broadcast with narration by Richard Murdoch in Britain in the 80’s, there did seem to be something missing. The soundtrack was frequently intrusive and I hankered for the fluted theme tune and more prominent ambient sounds of the TV version. But it’s unfair to compare it to childhood memory; this film stays true to the original story and is a pleasant, innocent way to pass an hour or so. The Moomin universe has always been a wonderful and surreal place to visit and if this film opens it up to a new generation of fans more power to it.

(2.5/5)

Gangster No.1

(Paul McGuigan/2000/UK)

Released the same year as Sexy Beast and with much the same subject matter, aging criminals, Gangster No.1 builds its story from narrated flashbacks rather than rooting itself firmly in the present. This allows for lots of vintage costume styling and set decorating which looks great but also seems somehow over familiar. We’re not breaking any new ground here but there’s fine performances from Paul Bettany as the young sociopathic gangster of the title who manoeuvres his way into a position of power in the London crime scene. Malcolm McDowell is also impressive as the aged gangster in the present day but the montage and flashback style story telling lacks a build up of intensity and there’s a reliance on grisly violence to shock and engage the viewer. The culmination of the story is both a little confusing and deflating. It’s pertinent to make comparison with Sexy Beast which has a subtlety that’s absent here. The menace onscreen is in the possibility of violence from Ben Kingsley’s obviously lunatic character and whilst there are moments of viciousness there’s a restraint in the script from showing too much. There’s a lot more in what we don’t see than what we do sometimes and this I think is why Sexy Beast is a more enduring film than McGuigan’s Gangster No.1.

(2.5/5)

Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas

(Arnaud des Pallières/2013/France & Germany)

Hans Kohlhaas was a merchant who got rightly hacked off, first with a nobleman and then with the entire judicial system of Saxony, back in the 16^th century after some of his horses were detained as collateral for a fee to pass through the province. He waged a campaign of terror against the entire region in pursuit of justice and ended up being broken on the wheel for his sins. In 1810 Heinrich von Kleist wrote a novella based on this story as a covert political statement against dealings between Germany and Napoleon taking place at the time. The book, stylistically, was before it’s time and has resonated with many since, most notably Kafka. This film is an adaptation from the book and does well to build the frustrations of the horse trader, played by a quietly brooding Mads Mikkelson, as he methodically and at first calmly seeks recourse for the blatant provocations of the asshole nobility. Getting nowhere and with a wife dead at the hands of the court of the princess he musters a posse and goes on the rampage. It’s a generously paced film, starting slow and eventually bubbling to the bloody uprising. However once Kohlhaas gets his way and the story enters its final chapter the film sags somewhat and takes far too long to close out. This is a minor quibble though for an otherwise emphatic movie.

(3/5)

The Paperboy

(Lee Daniels/2012/USA)

I don’t know how close Lee Daniels film adaptation comes to Pete Dexter’s novel The Paperboy but the author did co-write the screenplay so it’s gotta be close, however having seen the film I am unlikely to ever pick up the book and find out. The Paperboy is a lurid splatter of cinematic vomit with the one redeeming factor being Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of steam pressed southern belle sexuality in the form of Charlotte Bless. Everyone else does enough to keep afloat in a swamp of Southern Gothic clichés and overblown, garish Jim Crow camp but not near enough to bring any degree of subtlety to the exaggerated, sensibility bashing plot turns. Daniels is like an excited child drawing outside the lines of the picture. A large dose of restraint might have produced something of far more guile and charm.

(2/5)

Victoria and Abdul

(Stephen Frears/2017/UK)

Having come to light after over a hundred years the remarkable story of the relationship between Queen Victoria and an Indian servant, Abdul Karim, whom she elevated to her inner circle, was crying out to be adapted to film. Frears makes a good fist of it with his ability to present and observe without any explicit directorial comment but the film suffers from an imbalance in the characterisations. Essentially we knows loads about Queen Victoria so Judy Dench can knock it out of the park but Abdul is a rather two dimensional foil. This is nothing to do with Ali Fazal’s capabilities as an actor but I suspect more to do with a selective use of material belying who the man was. Frears recreates events and situations which we know happened but as to the character and motivations of the man himself the Abdul onscreen lacks a little depth. Particularly problematic is his contextualisation as a happy servant of the empire which approaches a revisionism I’d not expect from a director like Frears. The man was more complex and made up, like us all, of emotional and mental strata that shape a more rounded character. There is evidence that Abdul displayed some arrogance, possibly a defensive stance towards the negative attitude of the royal staff towards him, and he certainly garnered favours for both his father and an old employer back in India which suggest a degree of manipulation of his privileged position but this doesn’t fit the vibe here.

The film is very much a light-hearted portrayal of the Queen in her twilight years with the affection and warmth of her friendship with Abdul the focus, as is the vitriol and bigotry of the royal staff towards him. Again this approaches revisionism unworthy of Frears because it places Victoria in a position of moral defender, fighting for his equal rights. As accurate as this may be inside the privacy of her own court outside in the real world she had presided over the imperial oppression of India. This isn’t Frears’ best work but it is a funny and engaging story however skewed or not fully reflecting actual events. Judy Dench is great as ever and steals the show.

(2.5/5)

Kick Ass 2

(Jeff Wadlow/2013/UK & USA)

2010’s Kick Ass provoked a lot of debate and attention due to its unabashed violence and swearing. As an adaptation of a graphic novel it embraced the graphic part with gusto. The problem with following up a movie like that is you have to either double down on that controversy or get creative within the limits of the original film to keep the audience interested. Kick Ass 2 unfortunately does neither and is in effect a weak rehash that falls far short of the bar set by its predecessor. Much of the humour is off key and the action seems a bit jaded. If Kick Ass was an exercise in shock and awe on the audience then it looks like the payload was blown as Kick Ass 2 struggles to be in any way as edgy or provocative.

(2/5)

The Great Gatsby

(Baz Luhrmann/2013/Australia & USA) 

Luhrmann brings his recognisable flair to F. Scot Fitzgerald’s tale of heartache and woe in 1920’s New York. The heart of the book is put on screen dressed up in gaudy excess; swinging jazz becomes infused with modern rap and hip hop pop and the crass pre crash opulence is perfect fodder for Luhrmann’s eye for pomp and spectacle. Indeed it’s a good marriage of minds and styles. If you like either or both it should go a ways to keeping you entertained. Leonardo Di Caprio more or less sails through his performance as Jay Gatsby without too much fuss, leaving Toby Maguire to shine as the greenhorn Nick Carraway. But the standouts are Joel Edgerton and Carey Mulligan as the dysfunctional Buchanans whom the plot orbits around.

(2.5/5)

Exodus: Gods and Kings

(Ridley Scott/2014/USA, UK & Spain)

Having breathed life back into Roman and Greek classical history genre with 2001’s Gladiator, Ridley Scott tackles the biblical epic here but falls way short of the mark. I’m not sure what the attraction was for an outspoken atheist to make a film about a religious myth but the obvious pitfall of that situation is the lack of connection with the source material. As a result the film is an exercise in big budget action dressed up in historical drama but missing any proper spiritual core which, ultimately, is the point of the story of Moses. The focus is all on effects and battle action and even when the story rolls around to Moses’ spiritual crisis it is without any real religious zeal. The voice of god is embodied in the form of a child, Malak (The Hebrew name for angel), this immediately removes direct contact with the divine being and you have Christian Bale seeking the advice of an invisible child for the remainder of the film. 

 

Exodus is really centred on the rivalry of Moses and Ramesses, his adoptive cousin who becomes King of Egypt and with whom Moses struggles to free the Hebrews from their enslavement. Scott can’t help tinkering with the story instead of playing it straight and as a result it begins to ring hollow. The plagues almost seem as a by the way, over and done within a few minutes so the story can progress to the chase to the Red Sea. And that scene itself has a pompous standoff between Moses and Ramesses in the shadow of the waves of the sea crashing back after the Hebrews have passed through. This is the bible dude, you can’t just start making up shit. The pacing is off kilter at times too and at two and a half hours it’s just not worth the effort. A big budget misfire from Scott and along with Aronofsky’s Noah it looks like 2014 wasn’t a great year for resurrecting the biblical epic in cinema.

(1.5/5)

Noah

(Darren Aronofsky/2014/USA) 

Like a cross between Lord of the Rings and The 10 Commandments this is a religious epic in fantasyland. It is the Old Testament after all and the source material for the Noah story is scarce enough as it is but with angelic “watchers” in the form of stone golems cast from heaven traipsing around Aronofsky goes full scale biblical myth here. He focuses on Noah and the internal struggle of the man who has to carry out the word of God. It’s utterly silly at points and to be honest I struggled to stay with it to the end but there is an arc that Noah’s character traverses. Not that you’d guess from Russell Crowes performance who reduces his range from a bit gruff to very gruff throughout. In the end you have to ask what the point of it is, shrug the shoulders and move on...

(1/5)

Arrival

(Dennis Villeneuve/2016/USA) 

Big squids from space come and teach us about time being a dimension not a continuum so we can take an evolutionary baby step. All tied into the personal story of the translator played by Amy Adams. It’s really well done with a feisty performance from Adams. Villeneuve is great at setting up big mood twanging scenes. The whole first contact scenario plays out pretty much as you’d expect if you’ve seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind but with some lovely updates such as the gravity kink in the entrance tunnel. I really enjoyed this and as schmaltzy as the ending is it works and you stand up to leave with your heart a bit fuller than when you sat down to start watching.

(3.5/5)