Just For Lookin' Thru

Some stereotypes appear early on in this film about modern survival in America but these are soon forgotten as the story develops. Clint Eastwood acts and directs in this film about immigrants, attracted to play the part of the newly widowed Walt Kowalski. A Korean war veteran, he is deeply resentful of his Hmong neighbours, angry at the fall in standards, the unkempt lawns and houses, and by being surrounded by people whose culture he does not understand. America is changing, Walt is Polish and prejudiced but he goes to an Italian-American barber, is friendly with an Irish building foreman - his friends are all earlier immigrants or economic migrants from Europe. His new neighbours are Hmong, the teenage son, Thao, is meek, and Walt has no desire to understand them. However, they are forced together. The lad is persuaded to try and steal Walt's vintage car, a 1972 Gran Torino but Walt, being Clint, is no crime victim. During an interview on Radio 4’s Front Row, Eastwo...

Stunning cinematography of slum life in India, oblique camera angles, great colour and lively footage of laughing, running children. The boy Jamal and his brother live in flimsy shacks, making small amounts of money any way they can. Orphaned when a gang kill their mother, the boys take off and live amongst the mountains of rubbish, grubbing around for survival. It is unclear why Jamal’s brother is unkind to the little girl who attaches herself to them but Jamal is sympathetic towards her and, for a time, they travel together. After a short, calamitous and fascinating life, the teenager Jamal is a contestant on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ watched by most of the country. He answers each question correctly, as each one is relevant to an episode of his extraordinary life. This gets him arrested for cheating because the quiz show doesn’t have the funds to pay his prize (although the reason for his arrest is not made clear in the film, and the clever reason for Jamal needing to...

Love and sunshine for Vicky and Christina, two young American girls spending a summer in Barcelona. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is engaged and has come to stay with a family friend whilst doing research for her thesis. She is confident, mature and not to be trifled with. Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is unattached, sexually available, sexually uninhibited and keen to be trifled with. When the two girls are approached in a restaurant by bohemian artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) with a direct offer to come away for the weekend with him and enjoy a sexual threesome, Cristina is game. Vicky agrees to go along as chaperone but barely tolerates Juan Antonio’s well rehearsed seduction techniques and apparently innocent openness. Cristina slips upstairs to his room for some eagerly anticipated lovemaking but falls ill and spends the weekend alone in her own bed, throwing Vicky and Juan Antonio together. Rebecca Hall is excellent as the modern, educated young woman with a life plan, a ...