The Film Junkie

There is just no better rush than a movie that totally pulls the wool over your eyes.  When you find out who Kaiser Sose is in ‘The Usual Suspects’ or when Chris Cooper’s repressed dickhead of a man finally reveals his true desire in ‘American Beauty’.  These are the moments we want to live over and over again and thus we must watch that movie a few more times to dissect the mystery.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen ‘Fight Club’.

Here, Spike Lee creates the perfect caper flick.  We watch a perfect bank robbery being pulled off and are riveted by the fascinating cast of characters and the amazing structure of the thing.  We are cheering for the robber (Clive Owen is fantastic) to get away scot-free, begging that Denzel Washington and Chiwetel Ejiofor don’t find him out.  Jodie Foster also gives one of her most memorable performances as, to quote the film, a “magnificent cunt” of a woman who is pulling the strings behind almost everyone involved.

This is a film about race relations in post 9/11 New York; it is a film about capitalism versus morality; about politics and the true power grid of the US.  This is a film about deception of all kinds.

I have now seen this film twice and I love it even more the second time.  It is like watching a great ballet, you just want to understand how the hell they do that.

Grade: A+

It is nice to see Woody Allen experiment with form and content, but unfortunatly this film misses the mark.

It begins as a sort of ‘Dinner With Andre’ (1981), as a group of friends (including ‘Andre’s Wallace Shawn, best known as Vizzini in 1997’s ‘The Princess Bride’) discuss the difference in viewing the world either as tragedy or comedy.  Thus two differing perspective storytellers embark on telling a similar story in their respective genres.  The film is cross-cut (like 1998’s ‘Sliding Doors’) between the tragic and comic stories, with the only constant being Melinda.

Radha Mitchell (1998’s ‘High Art’) takes the inenviable task of portraying both suicidal damned Melinda and lighthearted lovable Melinda.  The former comes to visit her friend, Laurel (the great Chloe Sevigny can play anything and be unforgettable) and her husband (Jonny Lee Miller, Sick Boy from 1996’s ‘Trainspotting’) and falls in love with a talented musician (my beloved Chiwetel Ejiofor, check out my ‘Kinky Boots’ review) before it all turns to shit.  The latter is a stranger who stumbles into the home of an out of work actor, Hobie (Will Ferrell doing an odd Woody Allen impression), and his wife, a domineering filmmaker (an out of place Amanda Peet); Melinda becomes quick friends with the couple and after falling for a talented musician (’Rescue Me’s Daniel Sunjata) realizes that she loves another.

I wish Allen had stuck with the comedy, Ferrell shows some promise under his direction, but we never get enough time with him to grow attached, and Steve Carrell as his friend could be one of the great Allen buddy roles, but is only allowed two scenes. 

The tragedy is too sad and pompous to like, if the comedy had more time it may have been something.  Mashed together, this is half of two films; a great idea that is simply not well executed.

Grade: C+

In the grand tradition of odd British comedies about risque subject matter (see ‘The Full Monty’ (1997), ‘Billy Elliot’ (2000) and ‘Calendar Girls’ (2003)), this adds another classic to the pantheon.  The story follows Charlie, the son of a shoe-maker (Joel Edgerton, played Owen Lars in the last two ‘Star Wars’ prequels) who is about to give up on his father’s factory and legacy when he stumbles upon Lola (the underappreciated genius Chiwetel Ejiofor) a drag queen who complains about the fact that women’s shoes will not support a man’s weight.  Thus is born the idea of turning the factory into the first shoe-making enterprise made especially for drag queens.

Oh, and it’s based on a true story.

The story is predictable, but sweet.  Edgerton is likeable enough and there are some laughs with the Northampton locals, but this is the Ejiofor show and everyone else is simply a guest.  You remember Chiwetel Ejiofor (pictured below both in and out of drag) from one of the following: 2002’s ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ (he was the Nigerian doctor immigrant), 2003’s ‘Love Actually’ (he played Keira Knightley’s husband), 2005’s ‘Four Brothers’ (he was the badass dude), 2005’s ‘Serenity’ (he was the antagonist with a strict moral code), or 2006’s ‘Children of Men’ (he was the mutinous leader of the Fishes). 

His is a name you will want to remember, his is a face you will never forget, and though this may not be his best performance to date (that would go to ‘Dirty Pretty Things’, a brilliant film about immigration and the black market), he gives a new range of emotions to the drag queen role that has been dragged through the mud in recent cinema (yes, Wong Foo, I am talking to you).  His Lola is a real person and you can see her heart sopping through in every scene.

A good movie.

Grade: B/B+

Based on the novel by P.D. James and directed by Alfonso Cuaron (’Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban’, ‘Y Tu Mama Tambien’), one of the most talented directors of this new generation, comes this story of a future where every society except Britain has fallen and fertility ended eighteen years ago in 2009.  This 2027 is a bleak world of intolerance, military dictatorship and no hope.  The plot follows the first woman to be pregnant in eighteen years and those who are trying to protect her from the collapsing world.

The film stars Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine and Chiwetel Ejiofor with newcomer Claire-Hope Ashitey as Kee, the pregant women.  Owen is remarkable as the depleted and still Theo, he becomes a leading man with this role and the entire film rests on his desparate portrayal.  Moore and Caine step out of their usual roles in this film, Moore as the leader of a resistance movement and Theo’s ex seems more fresh and younger than ever before; Caine as Jasper the pot-smoking hippie is delightful and obviously relishes the role.  Ejiofor remains one of my favorite actors working today as the angry and passionate Luke.  Finally, Ashitey is one to watch in her difficult role as Kee.  She shines through her dire circumstances and gives the film the hope it is searching for. 

‘Children of Men’ is a metaphor for the downfall of societies that are taking place all around us.  The military occupation and resistance movements are reminiscent of the current Iraq War, while the refugee camps and caging of immigrants recalls the current United States’ policies as well as WWII and the genocides that have taken place for hundreds of years.  This is all about how much people can blindly detest each other and fight for causes they don’t understand.  It is about corruption and hate, love and faith, and what one does when there seems to be nothing left for them.

A brilliant, breath-taking, stirring and realistic film.

Grade: A