ROOM - BFI London Film Festival 2015 - Day Five

You can listen to a podcast review of this film here or subscribe to Bina007 Movie Reviews in iTunes.

Sometimes the best films have the shortest reviews because they set out to do something very specific and do it very simply and very well, with any pyrotechnics or flashiness: just creating writing and acting.  The writing is down to Emma Donoghue, who has adapted her own best-selling novel for the screen in this faithful and deeply affecting drama.  The story is told from the perspective of a bright young five year old boy called Jack, who with his mother is imprisoned in a suburban garden shed by their abusive captor, Old Nick.  The first half of the book and film sees us grow in admiration for Ma, and the clever way in which she tries to keep her son educated, well nourished and safe against all odds. Their is a pivotal point in the book which I won't reveal here, and after that both mother and son face even greater challenges that echo and comment upon the earlier ones.  

The amazing thing about the book was Donoghue's ability to put us convincingly and firmly in the mind of a small boy in an unthinkable situation, and the movie successfully manages to bring this to the screen. Director Lenny Abrahamson (FRANK) uses the camera imaginatively to render a child’s eye view of the world and it’s testament to his skill that although most people watching this movie will know exactly how it turns out, the escape plot is incredibly tense. But the reason why this film is as emotionally affecting as it is, is down to the performances of the two lead actors. Brie Larson has always been impressive, not least in SHORT TERM 12, but her evident rapport with Jacob Tremblay, who plays Jack means that every scene is laden with emotional impact. I defy anyone to watch it without tearing up at several points during the narrative.  

Sometimes the best movies are simple in their concept.  A moving story well acted.  Sometimes you just have to stand back and watch talent at work.

ROOM has a running time of 118 minutes and is rated R.  The film played Telluride, Toronto and London 2015 and will be released in the USA on October 16th and in the UK on January 29th.

London Film Fest 2012 - Day 8 - THE SESSIONS

THE SESSIONS is a charming, witty, emotionally affecting movie about a man called Mark O'Brien (John Hawkes) who lived in Northern California in the late 80s.  He contracted polio as a child, and by then in his late 30s, was dependent for life on his iron lung and a series of attendants.  He suffers from muscle wastage and can't use his hands, but has the soul of a poet and superb comic timing. He is also fortunate in his friends - particularly a compassionate priest (William H Macy).  It is a testament to how charming John Hawkes is as O'Brien, that we utterly believe that he could win the love of three women, including the sex therapist (Helen Hunt) who teaches him about his body and how to make love.  It's also testament to this unique and riveting story that the topic never seems prurient, or voyeuristic, or crass.  Rather, director Ben Lewin tackles the issue head-on, with no embarrassment  and utter humanity.

The more I think about this film, the more I admire Helen Hunt for quite literally baring all and bringing integrity and sympathy to a challenging role.  But ultimately, this is John Hawkes' film.  When you consider how he came to our attention as a loveable loser in ME, YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, and then frightened us as a cult leader in MARTHA, MARCY, MAY, MARLENE. and has now transformed into a admirably self-aware flirt, you just have to stand back and admire John Hawkes range and talent.  Maybe this time he'll get the awards season recognition he deserves?

THE SESSIONS played Sundance where it won the Audience Award - Dramatic, and the Special Jury Prize - Dramatic for the Ensemble Cast. It also played Toronto and London 2012. The film will be released on 19th October in the USA, on 8th November in Australia and New Zealand; on 3rd January in Germany; on 9th January in France, Hong Kong and Spain; on January 17th in the Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland and the UK; on 25th January in Norway; on February 14th in Italy and Brazil; on February 21st in the Czech Republic, Iceland and Sweden; on March 6th in Belgium and Denmark; and on March 28th in Argentina. The running time is 97 minutes.

THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX - less than the sum of its parts

THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX is a rather wilted new children's animated feature based on the popular modern fairy-tale from writer Kate DiCamillo. It has been brought to the screen by directors Robert Stevenhagen and Sam Fell, who was behind the brilliantly funny and fast-paced FLUSHED AWAY. And the screen-writers worked on the similarly engaging ANGUS THONGS AND PERFECT SNOGGING. The voice cast is superb. The fairy-tale is narrated by Sigourney Weaver and our hero is voiced by Matthew Broderick. The Princess is none other than Emma "Hermione" Watson and in smaller roles we have character actors of such calibre as Frank Langella, Richard Jenkins, Robbie Coltrane and William H Macy. The animation is stunning - everything looks hand-drawn, like a medieval fable come to life. And the movie is filled with the best of intentions. The message is that honesty, sympathy, courage and forgiveness are the keys to a happy life.

Why then does this film fall so flat? Why then is it such a painfully slow watch? Maybe it's because there's simply too much story to get through? Maybe it's because it is too careful to be politically correct and spends too little time on good old-fashioned action-adventure? Maybe it's because it's basically a rather trivial story - as acknowledged in the narrator's epilogue. It's the story of a rat called Roscuro who falls into a Queen's soup by mistake, causing her to die of shock. The King, grieving, bans soups and rats and his kingdom falls into darkness. The Princess, longs for sunlight and in her anger upsets Roscuro who has come to apologise. She also upsets her servant Miggery. So Miggery and Roscuro allow the rats to capture the princess, though they regret it almost immediately. Which is when a courageous little mouse called Despereaux saves the day! Kind of. What really happens is that the Princess forgives Roscuro, Roscuro forgives the Princess, Miggery forgives the Princess and the people forgive the King. Phew! Everyone gets soup, the mice learn not be cowards, and Miggery finds her dad. Aah!

I think you get the drift of how hard it must have been for the directors to balance all this material, and how Despereaux sometimes gets lost in the muddle. It's a shame, but there it is. This movie is so jumbled that it's less than the sum of its parts.

THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX is on release in the UK, US, Spain and Hong Kong. It goes on release in Hungary, Russia, Australia and Norway on Christmas Day. It opens in Chile, Croatia and Estonia on New Years Day. It opens in Brazil and Sweden on January 16th; in Turkey on January 23rd; in the Netherlands and Argentina on February 4th; in France on February 11th; in Belgium and Egypt on February 18th; in Denmark on March 6th; in Singapore and Finland on March 12th and in Germany on March 19th.

WILD HOGS isn't well-judged but it is funny

WILD HOGS is an alpha-gamma Big Studio Comedy. The plot is ropey, the character development non-existent, the jokes occasionally homophobic, and the Kyle Gass cameo redundant. In fact, it's everything you expect from the Hollywood production line. But I can't deny that when it works it really works, and as Doctor007 and I had at least a dozen laugh-out loud-moments, I have to give it a qualified thumbs-up.

D'apres CITY SLICKERS, the basic premise is that four middle-aged guys (William H Macy, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen) get off the suburban treadmill and take a road-trip on their motorcycles to rediscover their youth. The early comedy successfully spoofs the Born-to-be-wild myth of easy riders, but John C McGinley of SCRUBS fame is saddled with an uncomfortably homophobic cameo that sours the mood. Pretty soon though, the movie is back on track. The WILD HOGS manage to piss off some hard-core bikers. (Hard-core, within the context of a Disney movie, mind you.) The denoument sees them in a stand-off, defending a bunch of innocent townsfolk, A-team stylee.

There's nothing big or clever here. For the most part, the humour consists in guys slapping cattle, getting hit in the crotch with baseballs and William H Macy in a Snoopy-as-the-Red-Baron helmet. But after a seriously hard day crunching numbers, this was exactly what the Doctor ordered. Plus, the script was surprisingly witty - surprising that is, until I realised that it was penned by the guy behind ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and MY NAME IS EARL - two shows I love. The Brucey Bonus is a neat spoof of EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION at the end.

So, WILD HOGS may not be clever or even consistently well-judged, but it is a bunch of fun, and while I entered the cinema stressed-out and pre-occupied I left with a smile on my face.

WILD HOGS is on release in the US, Australia, New Zealand and Russia. It opens in Estonia and Iceland this weekend and in Belgium, Argentina, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Spain and the UK on April 13th. It opens in the Philippines, Austria, Germay, Hungary, Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil, Italy, Latvia and Sweden on April 20th. It opens in Turkey on April 27th and in France on June 13th.

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING - brilliantly biting satire

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING is a hysterical satire on corporate spin-doctors, political correctness and Hollywood. It is an intelligent, adult comedy and the funniest movie I have seen since GRIZZLY MAN. If you like your humour dark and twisted then this is the flick for you, for while it may teeter on the brink of saccharine in the final five, it manages to stay on the right side of the divide.

The concept is brilliant. Our hero is a corporate spin-doctor for Big Tobacco called Nick Naylor. Nick hangs out with his chums who defend Alcohol and Firearms respectively. He promotes cigarettes because he is good at it and he has a mortgage to pay. Okay, Nick may feel bad when he has to give the real-life Marlboro Man a cool million to shut up about his cancer, but at the end of the day, Nick still gets an adrenaline rush from knowing precisely which buttons to press to get him to keep the phat cash. The genius of the script is that our hero is not an amoral aberration but by far the most sane and endearing man in a system that is full of hypocrisy and grand-standing. From puffed-up Senators to professional campaigners to journalists - everyone is in it up to their eye-balls.

For example, a good chunk of the movie features Nick trying to broker a deal with a major Hollywood agent to get stars smoking on screen again. This is, for me, by far the funniest strand of the movie, and its clear that writer-director Jason Reitman knows whereof he takes the piss. I love the spoof of the Japanese-style office building. I loved Adam Brody as the hipper-than-hip, personal assistant, and I thought that casting Rob Lowe as the evil agent was a master-stroke. In fact, Rob Lowe could well replace Alec Baldwin as my all-time favourite sleazy cameo actor. But then this is a cast chock-full of brilliant actors: Aaron Eckhart,Maria Bello, David Koechner, William.H.Macy, Cameron Bright, Sam Elliott and Robert Duvall.

In fairness, this movie isn't perfect. Toward the end, there is a suspicion that it is slightly pulling its punches. But for political satire it's either this or TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE. And, to my mind, while TEAM AMERICA has the songs, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING has Katie Holmes suffering nationwide humiliation! Go see it.

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING showed at Toronto 2005 and was released in the US in April. It is currently on release in the UK and hits Austria on July 28th, Germany on August 31st and France on September 13th.