Philomena

And suddently it's the end of another season.  We've been saving the best until last, or rather we had to wait until Philomena was avilavble on DVD.

To boost our audience numbers we're serving Irish stew and cheeses, and hopefully a load of Guinness will arrive here tomorrow.  Meanwhile I've just finished my notes:

Philomena

UK 2013                      98 minutes

Director:                      Stephen Frears

Starring:                        Judi Dench, Steve Coogan and Anna Maxwell Martin

Awards and Nominations

• Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Film, Best Actress (Judi Dench) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Steve Coogan)
• Won BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay (Steve Coogan) and nominations for Best Actress (Judi Dench), Best Film and Best British Film
• A further 19 wins and 36 nominations

“Philomena is something yearned for and lusted after by film-makers and journalists alike – a really good story.  It's a powerful and heartfelt drama, based on a real case, with a sledgehammer emotional punch and a stellar performance from Judi Dench, along with an intelligently judged supporting contribution from Steve Coogan.  Yet the film's apparent simplicity and force come to us flavoured with subtle nuances and subtexts, left there by the people who brought this story to the public.”

Peter Bradshaw

 Following his unexpected defenestration as New Labour Director of Communications in 2002 Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) is working as a freelance journalist when he comes across the extraordinary story of an elderly Irish woman called Philomena Lee (Judi Dench): as a teenage unmarried mother she had been placed in one of the Irish Republic’s notorious Magdalene Laundries (“Why do they call this heartless place Our Lady of Charity?”) and her son was put up for adoption by childless Catholic Americans, and now in her old age she wants to track him down.  Sixsmith then takes Philomena to America on a mission to America in search of her son.

The film received its premier at the Venice Film Festival where it received rave reviews, was nominated for the Golden Lion and won the award for Best Screenplay.  Judi Dench also won great praise for her performance, with Catherine Shoard in The Observer commenting:

"At 78, she skips through scenes, hitting a dozen bases a minute, raising laughs here, tears there, never breaking sweat. This might be the sort of thing she can do in her sleep, but Dench never gives anything less than full welly.”

However when it came to the awards season Judi Dench lost out in both the Oscars and BAFTAs to Cate Blanchett’s barnstorming performance as Jasmine in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine.  Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith proves himself to be a good actor, but it is Dench who is the dramatic focus of the film and director Stephen Frears, in his best film since The Queen (2006), uses a steady hand to guide the two of them on their odd couple road trip around Ireland and America.


And here's the trailer:

 

Once

We'd agreed at the beginning of the season to schedule a chic flick - and then the male portion of the committee held its collective breath while the female portion decided what to screen.

Fortunately the final choice was a film that appealed to our entire demographic - and the provision of cupcakes and the sale of Prosecco meant that we attracted a good audience.  I'd already seen Once on DVD, but it was far better second time around on a big screen.  Also, while writing my notes, it was good to read a review by Roger Ebert again - he was a superb critic.

Here are my notes:

Once

Ireland 2006                 86 minutes

Director:                      John Carney

Starring:                        Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova, Alistair Foley

Awards and Nominations

• Won Oscar for Best Original Song (“Falling Slowly”)
• A further 16 wins and 21 nominations

“I gave it my Special Jury Prize, which is sort of an equal first; no movie was going to budge Juno off the top of my list.  Once was shot for next to nothing in 17 days, doesn't even give names to its characters, is mostly music with not a lot of dialog, and is magical from beginning to end.  It's one of those films where you hold your breath, hoping it knows how good it is, and doesn't take a wrong turn.  It doesn't.  Even the ending is the right ending, the more you think about it.”

Roger Ebert

An unnamed Irish busker (Glen Hansard) meets a young Czech emigree (Marketa Irglova) on the streets of Dublin as he performs his music and they become friends.   He wants to go to London to find fame and meet up with his ex-girlfriend; she likes him and his music so she raises the money to help him achieve his ambition.

Once spent years in development with the Irish Film Board and finally, in a period when the Board had no chief executive, the board gave the film the go-ahead - but with a budget of just €150,000 rather than the higher budget originally requested.  This meant a the use of natural light and real locations, with the director’s friends and family performing as extras.   Originally Cillian Murphy (The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), The Dark Knight (2008) and Inception (2010)) had been cast in the lead role, but he withdrew as he was unwilling to act against non-professional Marketa Irglova.  Glen Hansard’s only previous acting experience had been a minor role in The Commitments (1991) although he was a member of Frames, a band he had founded in 1990 and in which director John Carney had once played bass.  Hansard wrote all the songs that he performs throughout the film.

After initial screenings at the Sundance and Dublin Film Festivals (where it received the audience award from both) the film went on general release in the US where it grossed $9.5 million and more than $20 million in the rest of the world.

Following its worldwide success in 2011 Once was adapted for the stage as a musical.  After opening off Broadway it subsequently transferred to Broadway where it won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Actor in a Musical.  In 2013 a production of the show opened in London and is scheduled to run until 2015.

Here is the trailer:

 

 

And here's the amazing song:

 



 

Analysing Film as Film

I guess I fall into the category of the numerous bloggers who write about film, but hopefully vering to the more thoughtful end.

This is a fascinating review article about Mark Kermode's new book:

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/art-books/film-as-film/#.UyCwiiePM24

It's definitely one to add to my reading list and I still have some book tokens left over from my birthday.

Thoughts about the Oscars

This is a wonderful essay on the Oscars by Raymond Chandler:

http://memex.naughtons.org/archives/2014/03/02/19707

Even though this is, in Hollywood terms at least, pre-history, I could think of any number of current films that fall into the categories he mentions.

 

Captain Phillips

I'm a bit behind schedule here as we screened this last week and soon I need to get to work on my notes for Once.

Anyway the film was excellent, and even though I knew that Captain Phillips would survive (not only was he played by Tom Hanks but he's also written a book - a bit of a spoiler really) there were whole sections when I kept forgetting to breath.

Here are my notes:

Captain Phillips

USA 2013                    134 minutes

Director:                      Paul Greengrass

Starring:                        Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi and Catherine Keener

Awards and Nominations

• Nominated for six Oscars including Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Barkhad Abdi).
• Won BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor (Barkhad Abdi) and nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.
• A further 12 wins and 64 nominations.

“[Greengrass] has shown us once again that mainstream cinema can be both visceral and intelligent, grabbing the audience by the throat without ever cutting off the oxygen supply to their brains.”

Mark Kermode

 In 2009 Somali pirates attacked an American container ship, the Maersk Alabama, that Captain Richard Philips (Tom Hanks) is piloting on a 10 day around the Horn of Africa and into bandit country.   With the pirates holding the crew hostage and negotiations going nowhere the US Navy plans to mount a rescue attempt.

The film is based on the book A Captain’s Duty that Richard Phillips wrote after his ordeal, with Sony Pictures quickly optioning the film rights.  Tom Hanks joined the project after reading a draft of the screenplay from Billy Ray with Paul Greengrass subsequently joining as director.  Initially Ron Howard had intended to direct the film with Paul Greengrass scheduled to direct Rush, but the two directors swapped projects with significant rewards for both.  

In his career Paul Greengrass has specialised in the dramatisation of real life events as well as his use of hand-held cameras.  He began his career making films for World in Action before directing The Murder of Stephen Lawrence and Bloody Sunday for TV before making his cinema debut with The Bourne Supremacy (2004) with Matt Damon in the leading role.  He followed this with United 93 (2006) a film about the September 11 hijackings and  after The Bourne -Ultimatum (2007) made Green Zone (2010) about the Iraq War and once again starring Matt Damon.

On its release Captain Phillips received widespread critical acclaim both as a film and for the performances of the main actors.  In The Observer Mark Kermode claims that Tom Hanks gives the performance of his life Tom Hanks and comments on the “electrifying presence” of newcomer Barkhad Abdi.

 

Here's the trailer:

 

 

Cats in Films

As any fule kno the real purpose of the internet is to disseminate pictures of cats - and thay also appear in many films

Thus I could not overlook this brilliant article by Anne Billson (tentatively linked to Inside Llewyn Davies which featured a prominent cat) listing the most memorable feline peformnances:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10572306/Cats-improve-every-film-they-are-in.html 

But as the co-carer of two ginger cats it was a shock to see how many ginger cats appeared on her list - as well as in Inside Llewyn Davies.

Silver Linings Playbook

Another week and another screening: this time it's Silver Linings Playbook - a rom com with a difference.

Once again this is a film that has been on my "want to see" list, so it's good to be able to catch it at last.

Here are my notes:

Silver Linings Playbook

USA 2012                    122 minutes

Director:                      David O Russell

Starring:                        Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert de Niro and Jackie Weaver

“Silver Linings Playbook has a suitably upbeat title and several of the key ingredients for a standard Hollywood "feelgood movie" – an oddball hero returning home to make peace with his family, an encounter with a kookie girl whom he ends up chasing through the festive, snow-flecked streets at Christmas, a couple of public contests (a dance and a football game) on the results of which the future depends.  And indeed the movie does make you feel quite good about humanity as the final credits roll.   But this is a David O Russell movie, his sixth since 1994, and for him feeling good is the reward for completing an emotional assault course.”

Philip French

Awards and Nominations

• Won Oscar for Best Actress (Jennifer Lawrence) plus seven further nominations including Best Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay
• Won BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay and two further nominations (Best Actor and Actress)
• A further 60 wins and 58 nominations

Pat (Bradley Cooper) a former school teacher has just spent eight months in a psychiatric hospital suffering from bi-polar disorder following a violent incident with his now ex-wife.  On his release he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) a young widow and despite his initial plan for a reconciliation with his ex-wife Tiffany persuades him to be her partner in a community dance competition and their relationship develops.

Throughout his career David O Russell has maintained an oblique approach to the world as well as a strong interest in dysfunctional families.  He made his debut with Spanking the Monkey (1994) a comedy about a middle-class lad who develops an incestuous desire for his attractive invalid mother, and made his commercial breakthrough with Three Kings (1999) a thriller set in the Gulf War.  His previous film was The Fighter, a biopic of the welterweight boxer Micky Ward and his rough Irish-American background, with the film receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Film and with both Christian Bale and Melissa Bale winning Oscars for their supporting roles.

 His most recent film is American Hustle, again starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper as well as Christian Bale.  The film was well received and has just received 10 Oscar nominations including ones for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

Here's the trailer: