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Friday 13 September 2013

Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Films are a time commitment. I mean think about it. After who the actors are and what is it about, often the most important piece of information for the average viewer is how long is this thing? *that's what she said* Is it worth my time? Will I love every minute? This may seem like an odd introduction for a film that's about 90 minutes, as short as they really come, but Ain't Them Bodies Saints is all about patience. Not that it's a slow or inactive film but it takes it's time to build a rich and exciting world, and once it's done, Ain't Them Bodies blows you away.
So Ain't Them Bodies begins with a Bonnie & Clyde style couple, but rather than this being the tale of their rise and fall, we start with the fall and things keep falling from there. After they surrender from a shoot out with a fallen comrade on their side and a injured police man on the other, we skip ahead five years. Ruth is living with her soon-to-be five year old daughter and Bob is in jail, plotting his escape. This tragic romance has echoes of a thousand doomed love affairs that have preceded it and yet feels uniquely singular and important. Somehow David Lowery has managed to carve himself and new unseen corner in a brutally over-saturated genre.

It's actually incredible how this relationship manages to so strongly grab your empathy considering that the two in the relationship so rarely share any screen time. As Bob fights his way back to Ruth, she hears the news of his movements and struggles to decide if the love she has for Bob is more important than her daughter. I can't speak too much on the events that surround this but there is a powerful moment when we hear through the form of a letter she has written to Bob why she has chosen to do what she does. It's powerful stuff like this that makes their relationship seem so important and devoid of thoughtless romanticism. Rooney Mara's performance is subtle and conveys a beautiful subtext with every movement. Casey Affleck is less immediately astounding be this may be due to a general lack on depth in his character that is intrinsically part of his character. making it as clever and considered as every single role in Ain't Them Bodies, each character adding more to the deceptively complex tapestry this film weaves. No actor steals screen time, each seems to be supportive of the other, like they are helping them through a bought of grief. Ben Foster who plays the policeman who was shot and later takes the case to track down Bob (incredibly not for revenge, another refreshing twist Ain't Them Bodies wields) is steady. For a while I was uncertain of him, feeling a heavy pang of jealousy on Bob's behalf. But then he changes gradually into someone you simply can't ignore. 
Visually the film owes a ridiculous debt to the work of Terrence Malick. The film is in some ways a mash-up of Malick's Badlands and Days of Heaven. That could be seen a bad thing, lazy, but Ain't Them Bodies Saints isn't stealing for stealing's sake (that's even if you think it really is). It earns it for itself. This film starts by feeling unoriginal but after a short stay proves it's worth ten times over. It's about time more people started aping Malick's spectacular style anyway, I'm bored of all this Kubrick and Hitchcock copycatting. None of that means anything though when you hear Daniel Hart's score. This is stellar stuff. The kind of music that perfectly evokes everything the film is trying to convey. It compliments every scene perfectly, subtle, harrowing and remarkable all at once.  

Perfection is ridiculous, you literally can't have it. You can feel it though. You can notice imperfections and let them be, or explain them away. The career of Kanye West ain't perfect but I can argue with you that it is for as long as you stay awake. As I said at the start, films are a time commitment. Some are 100% non-stop like, never boring, never amazing and others take their time, build up slowly but end in true love. Ain't Them Bodies Saints certainly takes its time and you might not be immediately engaged but I implore you to go seek it out. Sometimes it's better to take your time to achieve something all the more special and important. 

I feel like I should feel bad that this will be the third 5/5 review, but why should I feel bad WHEN I'VE SEEN THREE FIVE OUT OF FIVE FILMS IN A ROW! Everything's coming up Joe.

Tuesday 3 September 2013

From Up On Poppy Hill

To my mind at least, there are two distinct types of Studio Ghibli film. Fantasy and realist. These will often intermingle, films like Kiki's delivery service are essentially about normal things with one strange additional element. But then you get the films that are full on fantasy epics like Princess Mononoke or completely stripped back Ozu-esque family dramas, like my personal favourite, Whisper of the Heart. Both styles have their places and we'll all have different opinions on the best Ghibli films. As this is my review however I should tell you now, I bloody love the realist camp, which Poppy Hill finds itself firmly settled in.  


In From Up On Poppy Hill, a young girl in a beautiful but vertigo inducing seaside town in Japan, hoists signal flags, it would appear, to the passing ships. When a boy at the school posts an anonymous poem in the school magazine about her flag raising habit she immediately suspects one boy in particular. Editor of the school paper and lead campaigner to save the Latin quarter, a club house for all the extracurricular activities that take place, that is to be demolished. The rest of the film follows these two as they campaign and develop a relationship with plenty of melodramatic turns.  

The film is set the year before the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and much of the film seems to be a commentary on Japan's attitude of erasing their past in favour of the future. The film has great standing in history and an awareness of reality that makes the events seem so much more important and valid. The plot is constantly engaging and reveals itself steadily never relying on twists or one strong element. It keeps adding and keeps moving not lingering on any moment for too long or too short a time.  


Most of the humour comes from the students of the Latin quarter as they all represent different academic groups in hilarious fashion. Over zealous philosophy major all on his own, the astronomy club who after years of extensive research have learnt nothing new, the journalists who are effortlessly cool and smooth with the ladies......................  

The relationship between the two leads is pretty much the sweetest thing I've ever seen. The film is relentlessly beautiful, and so is its soundtrack. Honestly I don't want to say much more because I just loved it. It plays out so perfectly that it seems almost effortless. Ghibli have this all down to a fine art now. They have no superiority complex, and they don't think their films need more explaining then they do for themselves. While Pixar get complacent and cocky and Dreamworks only live to grovel at our feet and shout the loudest, Ghibli are in the corner of the classroom quietly working away at a stack of Lego, creating something beautiful. 



Only God Forgives

Sometimes a director will take time perfect their craft before finally releasing the film that puts them on our radar. Sometimes that film never comes.  Sometimes it comes too soon and then they don't know what to do with themselves. Or more tragically it comes too late. Nicholas Winding Refn's key moment is almost undeniably Drive. Before Drive he possessed a spotty, confused selection of bizarre and violent films that it could be said are predominantly bunk with some brilliant moments of pure inspiration. I'm sure anyone with terrific foresight could see he had potential for something quite spectacular, and certainly with hindsight we can all appreciate his flawed experiments. I mean, flawed innovation is always better a reliable dullard we all saw coming, right?


So I guess that's why Only God Forgives is such a bizarre film. With Refn seemingly perfecting a long experimented design, it would seem he isn't happy, and much preferred the world of trying new ideas. That's not to say that Only God Forgives is wholly original. It's story and most of its characters are brutally familiar and in no way surprising. In fact 50% of the film plays out like a traditional tale of crime-family revenge and its, frankly, really boring. This 50% felt so familiar I wondered if it was supposed to be a remake of a film I had seen and since forgotten.

But then there is another half of Only God Forgives that plays out like a dream sequence from any number of David Lynch films, fully kitted out with karaoke sessions and gaudy night clubs. In one sequence an uninspired and rote Ryan Gosling (who's clearly been given so little room to manoeuvre that he can hardly do anything to interest) is tied to a chair by a prostitute (who, in yet another uninspired turn, is being groomed to leave the sex trade). As she sits on the bed across from Gosling pleasuring herself, Ryan begins to see flashes of a man in a hallway, a short blade rising up and crashing down and strangely lit red halls. These moments in Only God Forgives are fascinating and a pleasure to behold. A room full of still policemen watching a man with an angelic voice sing some bizarre Asian karaoke is an image I won't soon forget.


Of course this may sound like style over substance but who's to say there can't be substance in style. Many of these sequences are scored subtly with an intriguing if less immediately loveable style than Drive's iconic soundtrack. The antagonist is by far the most engaging character. Whilst he is just as quiet and stoic as Ryan Gosling he seems more in control with slightly more engaging story. In fact he possessed the only moments of mental stimulation as I tried to figure out how his character had come to be the way he was.  Kirstin Scott Thomas seems to be getting the most universal praise, in a film that can hardly be called universal. Her character offers stilted insight into Goslings character but she plays out like the comedic relief in a Shakespeare play. Popping up in an otherwise tragic story to let the audience breathe a little. It was these moments of familiarity however that bred much of my boredom. Much like the story, Thomas was another thing we've all seen before.

Is it rude of me to say that the feeling I get from this is film is that of a director who was a massive geek until about ten years ago. And since then just wants desperately to be cool. It's taken me a long long time to figure out what it is that's bothering me about this film but that might be it. A film who's only desire is to be cool, can't ever really be cool right? Drive was skilful. Beautiful and brutish. This is, just brutish. A ham fisted attempt to be cool when Refn really doesn't need to try this hard. It's hard to define but what Only God Forgives does is imitate artistic design, rather than create. This isn't a new thing but it is strange the art Refn is imitating, is his own.


Frances Ha

I love Frances Ha.


I think rule one of reviewing is to not reveal your opinion so blatantly but fuck it. This is my blog and I can use it to say what I want. Today that thing is Frances Ha is awesome and we should all go see it. Right now, in one big happy group.

Frances has a best friend Sophie. Sophie is pretty neat, seems to have her life sorted whilst Frances is still stuck in that student head space. Bad with money and bad with work. The film is all about Frances during a turbulent point in her life as she loses touch with Sophie and is forced into staying as she is or growing up.

For a short time Frances Ha seems simple. Far too simple. I sat wondering what it was it was trying to tell me. But then suddenly you are completely absorbed. Greta Gerwig plays Frances so stripped back and the film in general is so naturalistic it's hard not to feel voyeuristic as you watch the day to day events unfold. It's a constantly moving plot though. Important things are always happening and though it seems to have a considered, slow pace like any other Noah Baumbach film, it's relentless. The film just goes along in its own world and you feel blessed to be in on the ride.


Visually it's stunning. Every frame speaks volumes to what is going on and it certainly justifies its black and white colour palette. It's utterly hilarious as well. The kind of belly laughs that it offers you don't really expect from this kind of indie comedy. Relatable is for some reason a word I detest and yet I struggle to think of another word to describe this film. This is your life. And if it isn't its the person sitting next to you's life.

The one problem I have is that I loved it. And it's hard to see how others couldn't. Know what you are getting into. A cool, indie, American comedy aimed specifically at layabout post teens. If you hate that then no, this ain't your thing. If you don't know if you hate that then dude, give it a crack! And if you love that then you've already seen this film and you know that its radical.

Cause it is the shit.