The Frame » film-Great Britain

Sunshine

Jandy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:42:22 +0000

Here’s an example of a current sci-fi film which I’m glad to say also counts as actually science fiction. The premise is that the sun is dying, and we have sent up a team in a spaceship with a huge atomic payload in the hopes that exploding the bomb in the sun will reignite it. A previous ship had tried to do the same thing, but had gone missing; don’t worry, it turns up. And when I say “don’t worry,” I mean from the standpoint of narrative; for the characters’ safety you should definitely worry. I’m not shy about admitting that I pretty much think Danny Boyle is a visionary director (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Millions, among others), and this is no exception. Sunshine is visually stunning from start to finish, allows plenty of time for philosophic contemplation and ethical dilemmas, not to mention the hugely disorienting ending sequence (possibly too disorienting, actually–it’s the one place I think Boyle may have gone too far into self-indulgence). The downside is that, as evidenced by the delays and short theatrical run, distributors don’t have any idea how to market a sci-fi/action film as cerebral as this one. But if you like Boyle’s previous work, or 2001, or Tarkovsky’s Solaris, seek out Sunshine.
Well Above Average

Atonement

Jandy — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:43:38 +0000

I wish I could experience this film without having read the book–a sentiment I often feel when watching adapations; I want to experience both the book and the film as my first time with the story, because whichever I experience first taints the other. That’s actually why I usually watch the films first and then read the book–that way there’s a better chance the book will add to the experience rather than the film taking away from it. With that intro, it sounds like I’m going to blast the film. I’m really not. It’s a very well-made, gorgeous-looking, extremely faithful adaptation. There are lots of things it does very well: both girls who play Briony are wonderful (in fact, it’s a bit of a shame that Saoirse Ronan is getting all the attention; she’s great, of course, but so is Ramola Garai, who plays Briony at age 18), Knightley and McAvoy hold their own as the thwarted lovers, and cinematography is pretty (though a little softer than I prefer), and the typewriter-overlaid-music is a perfect touch. I can’t fault the adaptation on faithfulness at all, which I think is part of my problem. If you like faithful adaptations, you won’t be disappointed; personally I find them a bit sterile. But people I’ve talked to who saw the movie without having read the book didn’t feel the film was sterile, so it may just be me. The war scenes also weren’t done as powerfully as I would’ve liked (the exception being the virtuoso steadicam shot at Dunkirk), and the ending could’ve been done more cinematically and less literarily. These are perhaps minor details, but they were enough to distract me and keep me from giving the film the unqualified praise I wanted to give.
Well Above Average

Notes on a Scandal

Jandy — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:09:18 +0000

Any time you have actresses like Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench together in a movie, expect incredible acting and plenty of sparks, if nothing else. Blanchett is a thirty-something art teacher who becomes involved with one of her fifteen-year-old students. When Dench discovers the affair, she uses her knowledge to gain emotional control over Blanchett, trying to filfill her own illicit desire for the younger teacher. In less competent hands the story could have been merely prurient, but it isn’t…it’s an electrifying exploration of obsession. Not to mention a master course in the art of acting, as both actresses manage to make their characters simultaneously sympathetic and offputting. I actually didn’t watch the film for a long time because I didn’t think the story sounded that great, but this is truly a case where the quality of the filmmaking raises the material above itself into something special.
Well Above Average

The Fallen Idol

Jandy — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 02:55:30 +0000

Before author Graham Greene and director Carol Reed teamed up for the magnificent The Third Man, they did this smaller, but still quite good, suspense film. The “idol” of the title is butler Ralph Richardson, who works for an ambassador’s family in London; the idolizer is the ambassador’s little son. Bates is the boy’s only real friend and protector from Mrs. Bates, who runs an extremely strict household. Bates would also like to get out from under Mrs. Bates’ thumb, especially since he’s fallen in love with another woman. The interesting thing about the film is that the bulk of the story is very adult, dealing with adultery, divorce, and eventually perhaps murder, but it’s told almost entirely from the boy’s perspective. He doesn’t really understand everything that’s going on (much of which he overhears in fragments through cracked doors and one-sided telephone calls), which places the audience in a position to see what is a fairly conventional story from a fresh perspective.
Well Above Average

Starter for 10

Jandy — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:07:42 +0000

James McAvoy plays a young man headed to Bristol University, taking part in the University Challenge trivia contest (which he and his dad had watched on television all during his childhood), and falling in love with the hot blonde girl while failing to notice the girl who really cares about him. Yeah, the story’s routine. But it’s still quite delightful, and we all agreed that it was markedly superior to what the equivalent American film would’ve been–for example, in an American film of this sort, the hot blonde girl would also have turned out to be mean and stupid, but here she’s actually quite nice and pretty smart. Rebecca Hall is really good as the other girl; she was Christian Bale’s wife in The Prestige and did a great job there as well–I’m hoping to see a lot more of her in the future.
Above Average

Red Road

Jandy — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:59:09 +0000

Slow-moving but ultimately worthwhile. A surveillance camera monitor sees someone she knows during the course of her job, leading her on a breakneck path to revenge–exactly what or why or how it’s not clear for a long time, but by the end it becomes much more than just a revenge story; rather, it’s a redemption one. I could give a better plot description, but that would spoil the surprises, now wouldn’t it? It’s not really easy to watch, either for the squeamish or the short-attention-spanned, but it’s a really fine example of the indie thrillers our British cousins can put out and we can’t seem to manage.
Above Average

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Jandy — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 02:55:52 +0000

Heh. Anytime the Harry Potter films come up, you get the battle between the book purists (”but they left so much out!”) and the non-book purists (”so? it’s a really good film!”), sometimes with a smattering of non-book readers (”what the heck was going on, and why does everyone care so much?!”). It’s fun times. I haven’t read the book since it came out, so I didn’t remember most of the things that the book purists said got left out, and I fall squarely into the non-book purist category anyway. And taken purely on a cinematic level, Order of the Phoenix is quite possibly the best of the films. I still love Prisoner of Azkaban best, but I was mightily impressed with film #5. The kids are turning into quite the actors, the tone is getting nicely darker, and they struck a nice compromise, I thought, between all the gazillion things that have to happen in the plot with character moments. And LUNA IS AWESOME. Perfect casting.
Well Above Average

Green for Danger

Jandy — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:15:58 +0000

Rather slight but entertaining British WWII black comedy/suspenser. Alistair Sim, as perfect as ever, plays a detective brought in to solve a murder committed among a group of army doctors and nurses, a task made more difficult by the suspects’ complex romantic involvements and friendships; basically, all of them have motive and opportunity. This film has a healthy reputation among fans of post-war British cinema, and it’s well-done; there’s just not a whole lot to it beyond its quintessentially British charm. And I love black and white films, but this is a rare case in which color would’ve really helped. Or else, completely ruined it. Now that I think of it, color might actually have given the mystery away–I’m not sure if that’s a positive observation on the cinematic side of the equation, or a negative one on the script side.
Above Average

To Sir With Love

Jandy — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 16:06:02 +0000

Sidney Poitier plays a young man from Africa who takes the rather undesirable position of a teacher at an inner-city London school to make a little money before he continues his studies to be an engineer. His class of high school seniors is full of hoodlums and smart-alecks who can’t see the point of finishing school when they have basically no chance of a future outside their crime-ridden, poverty-stricken area. But “Sir,” as he is called first mockingly and later respectfully, insists on order and respect in his classroom and soon turns the kids around. To Sir, With Love, along with Blackboard Jungle and others, is one of the earlier examples of the “inspirational teacher” story, and though it’s a bit dated by its 1960s setting, and the London setting will make it seem strange to a lot of Americans, it has a certain charm–not least of which the title song, which was a number one hit for British Invasion singer Lulu (she also has a supporting role in the film). However, the quick turn around of the students from thugs to upstanding citizens is a bit abrupt and not always handled believably, so it’s at best a limited success.
Above Average

Hot Fuzz

Jandy — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:24:45 +0000

Simon Pegg is the best cop on the London force–so good, in fact, that he’s making the rest of his team look bad and he gets “promoted” to a small village in the middle of nowhere. He resists this, but is intent on being the best cop he can be wherever he is, and starts seeing all sorts of suspicious activity in the town, much to the amusement of his laid-back colleagues. But…what if he’s right? Thus is the premise of what will probably remain the funniest film of the year. From the same group that made the very funny zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz takes loving aim at the buddy cop film genre. It’s nonstop hilarity, with a British flavor, which is the best kind. I’ve seen it twice and I can’t wait until I can get the DVD and see it again. If you like either British comedy or buddy cop films, or both, you will LOVE Hot Fuzz. No question.
Superior