STRONGER - Day 3 - BFI London Film Festival 2017

David Gordon Green's STRONGER attempts to tell the story of Jeff Bauman - a young man who had his legs blown off in the Boston Marathon bombing; apparently struggled with peoples attempts to turn him into a symbol of triumph in adversity; but eventually reconciled himself to his fame.  In order to do this, his character arc of frustration and depression is framed by the story of his ex-girlfriend Erin, who gave up her job to nurse Jeff back to health, and fell pregnant by him in the process.  Jeff's reluctance to accept his public role as hero is thus echoed in his reluctance to take on the role of dependable boyfriend and father. 

The film is well enough done. Jake Gyllenhaal looks appropriately overwhelmed and frustrated; poor talented Tatiana Maslany has little to do as Erin but be on the bring of tears. I found the rest of the cast - how shall I say this - insufficiently Boston.  Miranda Richardson was a bizarre choice as Jeff's alcoholic mum. I felt that David Gordon Green was probably trying to portray a loud, obnoxious family of the type we got in THE FIGHTER or that we see pastiched in WAHLBURGERS, but it just fell flat here.   On the positive side, I really liked the way they held back from showing Jeff's experience of the bombing until well into the film, although I wonder if some might find it too explicit or even exploitative. The highlight of the film was, for me, the sleeper story that gets Jeff back on track - I won't say more for fear of spoiling it - but once the true emotional heart of the story was revealed it absolutely broke me and I sobbed my way through the rest of the film.  So, STRONGER is by no means a perfect film, but where it works it really works, and the emotional payoff more than compensates for some of the more eccentric directorial choices. 

STRONGER has a running time of 116 minutes. The movie played Toronto and London 2017. It has already opened in Singapore, the USA, Canada, Estonia and the Netherlands. It opens in Portugal on Oct 12th, in Australia and New Zealand on Oct 19th, and in the UK on Dec 8th.

MUDBOUND - Day 3 - BFI London Film Festival 2017

Dee Rees' MUDBOUND is a profoundly cliched and deathly slow-paced film about racism in post-WW2 Mississippi.  We're on a mud-drenched farm, owned by a small-minded white man (Jason Clarke) and his rather superficial, simpering  but ultimately warm-hearted wife (Carey Mulligan). They live there with their two daughters, and his cruelly racist but caricatured Pappy (Jonathan Banks), while the brother (Garrett Hedlund is off fighting in Germany.  Also living on the farm are the black tenant farmers, of eminent virtue and no character nuance whatsoever. As Meester Phil put it, the mum is played by Mary J Blige in the "Oprah Winfrey" role. The tenants son Ronsel (Jason Mitchell) is also off in Germany fighting the war, and experiencing far more freedom than he ever found in the USA.

The plot of the story, such as it is, sees the white brother and black son return from WW2 and form a friendship through their shared trauma.  Clearly nothing good is going to come of this anachronistic enlightenment and in due course we get a searingly violent scene set to a beautiful gospel hymn. In fact, I would wager that it's an unintentional irony of this film that all the really truly shitty stuff happens either in church or when set to a hymn.  I think the ending is meant to be uplifting, nonetheless, but I found it all rather patronising and fantastic - as if Germany post-war was an utopia of racial harmony.  

Overall, this is a long drawn-out film, whose paper-thin characters can't stand the weight of history thrust upon them.  And I found the wannabe Mallickian voice-overs deeply irritating.  Seriously - watch the first half and ask yourself - would this be any less good - would my understanding of characters' feelings be any less - without this incessant portentous rambling?

MUDBOUND has a running time of 134 minutes and is rated R.  The film played Sundance, Toronto, New York and London 2017. It goes on release on the internet in the USA on November 17th. 

THE GROWN-UPS - BFI London Film Festival 2017 Preview

THE GROWN-UPS starts off as an engaging and warm-hearted documentary spent in the company of a group of Chileans living in a boarding school for adults with down syndrome. They are charismatic, charming and although adults, some of their hopes and fears and squabbles echo those of a typical high school. As the film goes on we approach the subject of dating, at first lightly but then with more profound consequences. Because despite the evident love and commitment felt by  one of the couples, they are not allowed to get married by Chilean law.  This is evidently a source of deep pain and frustration - why should they have to settle for just dating, and not expressing their commitment to each other with a civil ceremony.  Presumably this all relates to some kind of prejudice against them then having children who might also be "sufferers", but isn't this a deeply patronising attitude? If nothing else, THE GROWN-UPS shows just what full lives they experience and, if they were unimpeded, what happiness can be achieved.  I found this to be a deeply thought-provoking and eye- and heart-opening documentary.  It's lead protagonists are deeply memorable and I only hope that one day they will be able to be married. 

THE GROWN-UPS has a running time of 84 minutes.  The film has played the festival circuit and was released earlier this year in Chile and Denmark. It opens in France on November 15th.  There are still tickets available for both screenings at the BFI London Film Festival.

ADRIANA'S PACT - Day 2 - BFI London Film Festival 2017

Chilean director Lissette Orozco's ADRIANA'S PACT is a psychologically fascinating documentary about the true story of her favourite aunt Adriana being arrested for committing torture under General Pinochet's brutal Chilean dictatorship in the 1980s.  Suddenly this beautiful and glamorous aunt is a defensive, demonstrative wreck, bemoaning the bad press in Chile and denying that she had any part in such crimes. After much pressure and many skype conversations, the mask starts to slip a little. Ok so she admits she WAS a member of the secret police, but only because she was glamorous and new how to receive foreign delegations. Ok so maybe she did realise that people were being tortured, but she wasn't personally involved, and by then she couldn't have protested or her own family would've been at risk. And well, you know, maybe sometimes you have to torture communists, because they are stubborn, and the US tortures people too, but you know I didn't do it. 

The documentary is painful to watch because you're seeing a real-time example of a child having a glamorous relation demystified and a firm belief in innocence turned to a tentative belief in guilt.  But it's fascinating because you're getting a glimpse into the psychology of someone who fell into wickedness and now has to live with it by somehow compartmentalising it or dissociating herself from it. Although not entirely analogous it reminded me of BLIND SPOT - the documentary about Hitler's secretary insofar as there was something a little off in the protestations of naivety. It's also interesting to see how Australia deals with the problem of Adriana hiding out there - many Chilean Australians have family killed during the Pinochet regime after all - and to my knowledge she still hasn't been extradited to face charges in Chile. 

ADRIANA'S PACT has a running time of 94 minutes. The film played Berlin and London 2017.

FILMWORKER - Day 2 - BFI London Film Festival 2017

FILMWORKER was an unexpectedly emotionally affecting documentary to watch - and the thoughts and debates it provoked will be with me for some time. A must watch for all fans of Stanley Kubrick, given its insights into his work from one of his closest collaborators, the film will also have interest for all of those fascinated by obsession, self-sacrifice and the dangers of a boundary-less existence. 

The documentary tells the story of Leon Vitali - a British actor with somewhat Mick Jagger looks - working on TV and film in the swinging sixties. He watches and admires 2001 and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE from afar and manages to land a lead role in what I consider to be Stanley Kubrick's greatest film - BARRY LYNDON.  Vitali and the film's star Ryan O'Neal look back on that shoot and describe how many actors were sacked because they wouldn't put up with Kubrick's notorious demands and near-tyranny on set.  But Vitali - admiring Kubrick as a cinematic genius - did everything that was asked and was rewarded with a larger role.  This was to set the pattern of a lifetime.  On the back of the success of BARRY LYNDON, Vitali was offered all sorts of impressive film roles and a season at the RSC, but turned it down to take on parts that would allow him to learn more about cinema and practice the art of editing. And pretty soon he had given up acting entirely to become, effectively, Kubrick's man-of-all-trades.  Matthew Modine, looking back on the filming of FULL METAL JACKET, describes him as a kind of Igor.  Vitali edits - he takes light levels - he makes prints - he casts films - he coaxes great performances out of child actors - and in EYES WIDE SHUT he even acts again.  All of this in services of his maestro and at great cost to his personal health.

This is a truly thought provoking documentary and watching it was bittersweet. On the one hand, I was reminded how much I admired and adored Kubrick's work.  On the other, I saw that it came at great personal cost. And I know that this isn't really news - neither for Kubrick nor for many other directors - but it's different when you see the person who paid the price in front of you and he's an absolutely charming, kind person.  And I also realise that in Vitali's eyes he did it willingly, in service of a greater art, but that almost made me angrier.  Because Kubrick was clearly exploiting his willingness to work without sleeping, and clearly for limited financial reward, and perhaps was also aware that this was mimicking a pattern from Vitali's childhood. The more I heard him willingly take on this masochistic role, the more angry I became on his behalf. And at the end, when Kubrick dies, and we see Vitali fighting to honour Kubrick's legacy, the film almost became unbearable to watch: seeing this man with a unique perspective and profound love of cinema unappreciated. Hopefully this documentary will help cement his place in cinema history. He deserves no less.

FILMWORKER has a running time of 94 minutes and played Cannes, New York and London 2017.

WONDERSTRUCK - Day 2 - BFI London Film Festival 2017

I read Brian Selznick's WONDERSTRUCK upon hearing that his screen adaptation would be playing the BFI London Film Festival and immediately fell in love with it.  So many of its themes resonated with me - from the fear of having no place to fit in in society; to the love of collecting and old books; to the delight in architecture and models; and most importantly of all, a captivation with the history of cinema itself.  And that's all before one realised that this was going to be a profoundly beautiful treatment of the challenges and triumphs of growing up deaf.  Added to its thematic richness, Selznick's book was truly beautiful, unique and imaginative. He intertwines two stories of two kids from different eras - a girl called Rose living in 1920s New Jersey, and a boy called Ben living in 1970s Minnesota. Rose's story is told in beautiful black and white pencil drawings and depict a world of silent movie stars and the golden age of New York. Meanwhile Ben's story is told in text, but text that is beautifully and deliberately typeset. As the stories later meet and mingle, so to do the formats. The result is a visually stunning book.

Acclaimed auteur Todd Haynes admitted in his introduction to this film that he wasn't the obvious director for such a book at first glance - this is his first film aimed at a younger audience.  But when one considers its fascination with cinema history, who better than a director who has reinterpreted Sirkian melodrama for modern audiences? WONDERSTRUCK demands a director who is comfortable in different eras and styles, and who can harness the powers of pure cinema - visual, sound design, music - to convey emotional journeys and suspense. And this is what we get in this film.  In Rose's story, huge attention has been paid to texture - her hair, the patterns on her clothes, the thick ribbing on her tights, visually echoing the cross-grain drawings in the original book. And there's a delight and wonder at the stunning architecture of New York - we see it afresh in her eyes.  Millicent Simmonds - a talented deaf actress in her screen debut - is captivating in the part.  In Ben's story I feel Haynes really added to Selznick's world, showing a grittiness and griminess to pre-Giuliani New York and using music cues to great effect. In fact, Carter Burwell's score is one of the most impressive thing about this film, and holds the disparate themes together.

I can see why some people have been less than impressed by WONDERSTRUCK. It is patient and deliberate in how it unravels its story - the plot reveals depend on "big" events happening that may feel too many or too obvious - and its essentially a rather melancholy story about loss.  But I also feel that it's a deeply moving story about finding one's place in the world, triumphing over loneliness, and forging one's own path.  And I must admit that the final half hour had me in tears. Fans of the book will not be disappointed, and I feel that in the technical brilliance of the film, neither will Haynes fans if they open themselves up to the young adult material. After all, aren't so many of his films about misfits struggling to find a place in oppressive bourgeois conventional society?

WONDERSTRUCK has a running time of 117 minutes and is rated PG.  The movie played Cannes, San Sebastian, London and New York 2017. It opens in the USA on Oct 20th, in Hong Kong on Oct 26th, in France on Nov 15th, in the Netherlands on Dec 7th and in Belgium on Dec 20th.