H is for The Hobbit

I expect I'll get lynched for this review, but I promised films I loved and hated, and, well, I really hated this one....

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

USA/ New Zealand 2012

Running Length: 169 minutes

Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, James Nesbitt, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner

Director:  Peter Jackson

Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro

Cinematography: Andrew Lesnie

I’ll be honest and say I was never looking forward to seeing this film.  Elves and trolls and other fantasy creatures do absolutely nothing for me, and although I sat through all three Lord of the Rings films, I didn’t enjoy them much.  So it’s no great surprise that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey did nothing for me.

There is much to be admired about the film, of course.  It looks spectacular, especially once the film moves out of Bag End and into the vast landscapes.  The effects are so seamless that it’s impossible to find the line where reality meets CGI.

Unfortunately, no amount of technical wizardry can make up for the painfully languorous pace and flabby storytelling.  When it was announced that The Hobbit would be released as two films, I didn’t think it was possible, so when it became clear that it was going to be three, my heart sank.  It’s a slender book with a small story and translating that into three nearly three-hour epics was always going to mean stretching things out.

And boy does Jackson stretch things out.  Every single scene could easily have been 10-20 minutes shorter.  It takes 40 minutes of screen time to get Bilbo and his companions on the road.  This might be forgivable if that 40 minutes had been spent developing the characters of the 13 dwarves so each was a recognizable individual for some reason other than his facial hair.

Once the company does get on its way, the journey becomes rather predictable.  They get somewhere, find a threat, fight a battle, escape and move on.  To the next location, the next enemy and the next battle.  I admit I fell asleep for while in the middle, so I may have missed something (I think it was the elvish village – when I woke up Cate Blanchette was saying goodbye), but I found the plot repetitive and the constant overlong battle scenes wearying.

The version I saw was the 3D, 48FPS version, and I have to say I was impressed by the visual style.  It took some getting used to, and the 48FPS made everything look so real it was hard to believe I wasn’t standing in the scene with the actors.  The problem with this is that you can see the acting.  And the artifice of the sets and props.  It was not until the film left the Shire that I could settle into the visual language of the film.

So while I can appreciate the sheer effort and amount of work that has gone into creating this film, I didn’t find it engaging to watch.  And I certainly won’t be rushing out to see the next two films in any great hurry.

G is for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

GENTLEMENT PREFER BLONDES

USA 1953

Running Time: 91 minutes

Cast: Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid. Tommy Noonan

Director: Howard Hawks

Screenplay: Charles Lederer

Cinematography: Harry J Wild

For sheer fun, you can’t go past this ludicrous, colourful and bubbly film about gold-digging, love and friendship.

Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe are showgirls, Dorothy and Lorelei.  Dorothy is a wisecracking brunette who still dreams of finding Mr. Right.  Lorelei is more cynical, the original Material Girl, only looking at a man’s net worth.  She’s wooed by a milksop millionaire whose father is unsurprisingly not overjoyed by the partnership.  When she and Dorothy set off on an ocean liner to Paris, he sends a PI after the ladies to dig dirt on his son’s new fiancée.

All kinds of hilarious shenanigans happen on board, and of course Dorothy finds herself falling for the hopeless detective.  And when they get to Paris, well, all hell breaks loose.

The whole film is absurd and none of the men have anything like enough charisma to even share the screen with Russell and Monroe.  But it’s frothy and fun and the costumes are gorgeous.  The musical numbers are fun too, especially the one in which Russell turns the entire men‘s Olympic team to quivering jelly.

Monroe is beautifully vapid, smiling endearingly while spouting words she doesn’t understand or even know how to pronounce.  But when she tells us diamonds are a girl’s best friend, well, who’d argue with her? 

While nothing in this film will change your life, it’s a fast paced, amusing hour and a half.  It also showcases exactly why Monroe became the star she did.  Pure escapism don’t get much better than this….

F is for First Position

FIRST POSITION

USA, 2011

Running Length: 94 minutes

Cast: Miko Fogarty, Jules Fogarty, Joan Sebastian Zamora, Aran Bell, Michaela DePrince, Rebecca Houseknetch

Director:  Bess Kargman

Cinematography: Nick Higgins

Reminiscent of Spellbound and last year’s Jig, First Position follows the formula of these films as it follows a group of young ballet dancers as they compete for the coveted Youth America.Grand Prix.

One of ballet’s most prestigious competitions, the Grand Prix puts dancers between the ages of 9 and 18 in front of judges representing many of the world’s great companies and schools.  As well as medals and awards, the prizes include scholarships and company positions.

The film follows several young hopefuls through their preparation and competition.  The dancers are at different points in their careers.  Aran is just eleven while Rebecca is about to graduate high school.  Joan Sebastian has travelled from Colombia to New York to pursue his dream and make his family back home proud.  Michaela is an orphan from Sierra Leone who is determined to dance despite the dance world dismissing black girls as being too muscular and athletic for ballet.  Miko and Jules have a mother whose dedication to their dancing is almost frightening to watch.

All the dancers are articulate and manage to express how much ballet means to them, and how much winning a prize in this contest would mean to them.  Alongside the dancers, we see the parents and teachers and get a sense of the enormous cost and sacrifice they have to make for their children to follow their dreams.

While there is nothing particularly new or innovative in the style or structure of the film, it’s engaging.  The dancing is beautiful and well shot, even in the rehearsal studios.  The dancers the director chooses to focus on are talented and personable and it’s easy to root for their success.  The contest itself gives the film its dramatic focus.  It’s clear the director – one a dancer herself- has a great affection for and understanding of her subject and this is part of what gives the film its unique charm.

E is for Everything Must Go

EVERYTHING MUST GO

USA, 2010

Running Time: 97 minutes

Cast: Will Ferrell, Rebecca Hall, Laura Dern

Director: Dan Rush

Screenplay: Dan Rush – based on a story by Raymond Carver

Cinematography: Benjamin Echazaretta

Based on a four page short story by Raymond Carver, Everything Must Go showcases Will Ferrell’s dramatic side.  He plays Nick Halsey, a sales executive who is fired after one too many drunken incidents on the job.  After leaving his parting gift- a Swiss army knife – in his boss’s tire, he stocks up on beer and heads home.  When he gets there, he finds his belongings strewn across the lawn, the locks and alarm codes changed, and his wife gone.  All he wants is a drink.

After consuming his dozen beers, Nick collapses into his favorite armchair on the lawn, and sleeps.

The neighbors are, for obvious reasons, not pleased to find this drunken man living on his lawn in plain view.  The cops are called, but Nick manages to get a respite because his AA sponsor is a cop.  He’s told he can keep his stuff there for 3 days under the auspices of a yard sale.

With the help of a latch-key kid from down the road, Nick sets up his yard sale, guiding his young protégé in the art of sales.  The kid is good, and soon Nick finds that he can let go of his possessions, that without them, he can free himself from the life he’s been trapped in.

This is a subtly funny film with wonderful moments.  A scene in which Nick goes to visit an old high-school friend is achingly poignant as both recognize that they have not become the people everyone expected them to.  The relationship between Nick and his pregnant neighbor, and with the aimless Kenny are both finely drawn and complex, hinting at things that never quite come to fruition.  Ferrell’s usual machine-gun pace is languid here, drawn out to an almost glacial pace, but this just heightens the dramatic possibilities of this man’s plight. 

I liked the fact this film didn’t make the obvious choices.  Relationships do not pan out the way you would expect, and the ending is anything but Hollywood.

D is for Django Unchained

DJANGO UNCHAINED

USA 2012

Running Time: 165 minutes

Cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino

Cinematography:  Robert Richardson

There are few movies out there that will make you laugh until your sides split, and make you puke your guts up.  This is the one that will make you do both.

Tarantino is a master mimic.  His films always have a familiarity about them because so much of the content is lifted from other movies.  Yet he always manages to put his own spin on the material and makes films that are wholly his own.  Django does this masterfully, and who’d have thought a film about slavery could be so entertaining?

Jamie Foxx is perfect in the titular role of Django.  He has the ability to do comedy, but enough acting chops to pull back from playing for laughs when the material requires it.   Christoph Waltz as a German dentist turned bounty hunter also manages to hit every mark and the pairing of him with Foxx sets up a unique spin on the mis-matched partner scenario so often used in cop shows.

As the partners travel around, shooting miscreants for money, they become friends and Django lets slip he has a German-speaking wife with the improbable name of Broomhilde.  The second half of the film deals with the rescue of this fair maiden.  Things do not go as planned, of course, and in the course of the rescue, much blood is shed.  A lot of blood.  Gallons of it.  I sat in the front row of the cinema and was glad the film wasn’t in 3D or I’d have been splattered with gore.

The landscapes are gorgeous and beautifully shot.  I’ve never had a problem with the DCP digital format before, but this is a film that’s crying out to be seen on 35mm.  The scenery demands the warmth and depth of film, not the cold perfection of digital and several times during the screening I wished I was seeing it on film.

Funny, bloody and with a finale that indulges every one of Tarantino’s boyish urges for excess, Django Unchained is a terrifically fun three hours.  I didn’t even wish it was shorter, and that’s saying a lot!

C is for The Class

THE CLASS (ENTRE LES MURS)

France 2008

Running Length: 135 minutes

Cast: Francois Begaudeau, Franck Keita, Rachel Regulier, Carl Nanor

Director:  Laurent Cantet

Screenplay: Laurent Cantet, Francois Begaudeau, Robin Campillo

Cinematography: Pierre Milon, Catherine Pujol, Georgi Lazrevski

Winner of the Palm d’Or at Cannes 2008 and the official French entry for the Academy Awards, The Class has featured in almost every critics’ “best of 2008” list.  A mixture of documentary and organically developed drama make this one of the most authentic films about the classroom I’ve ever seen.  Young teacher Francois Begaudeau (playing himself) is determined to instil communal values into his multi-ethnic class.  A few students though, are determined not to be patronized and make his job difficult at every possible opportunity.

With a cast made up entirely of real students, the authenticity of the classroom is palpable.  No one who has been a teacher, or indeed a student, can fail to recognize the characters presented here.  Throw in religious and racial tensions, and you have a powder keg just waiting to explode.

This will quite possibly become required viewing for anyone contemplating teaching, but even for those of us who never wish to set foot in a classroom again, it is a charged emotional experience and one that will not soon be forgotten.

B is for Blue Is The Warmest Color

This is a post to celebrate LGBT month.  I know it was supposed to about LGBT books, but this film is based on a graphic novel, so it almost counts, right?  Plus, I needed to keep with my A-Z theme....

BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
France/Belgium/Spain, 2013
Running Length: 179 minutes
Cast: Lea Seydoux, Adele Exarchopoulous, Salim Kechiouche
Director: Abtellatif Kechiche
Screenplay: Galia Lacroix
Cinematography: Sofian El Fani

Winner of the 2013 Palme d’Or, Blue is The Warmest Color is a minutely detailed and brazenly original study of first love. While nothing about its storyline is wholly original, the way it is presented onscreen is so extraordinary, many critics have mourned that it is only three hours long – they could have watched for far longer.

Loosely based on a graphic novel by Julie Maroh, the film follows a young girl, Adele, whose hunger for life, knowledge, and experiences is vividly shown by the voracious way she reads and the way she tears into her father’s spaghetti at dinner. She starts the film as a precocious high-schooler, and finishes the film as a grown woman, albeit one who still has a lot to learn.

Adele is fifteen when she realizes she’s not happy with the guys she’s dating. She can’t get the girl with the blue hair out of her head, despite the fact their sole encounter was fleeting. When they meet again, love blossoms quickly and leads to the steamy sex scenes that have made the film so controversial. While the older and more sophisticated Emma accepts her new sexual identity gladly, Adele never fully gives into it and keeps it a secret, even when, several years later, the pair are living together. 

The performances in this film are stunning. Raw emotion spills from the screen, and the fragility of the girls’ situation is palpable in every scene. Director Kechiche manages to create a wholly believable world for this relationship to exist in, with each of the two girls having a wide group of friends, teachers and family to engage with. This bustling background makes the moments when the two girls are alone, behind closed doors, all the more striking.

Bold and beautiful, Blue Is The Warmest Color is both a touching love story, and one of the best coming-of-age films of our time. Just go see it!