Just For Lookin' Thru

Subtle, simple story written and directed by Becker about male friendship in rural France. A middle-aged, middle-class Parisian artist (Daniel Auteuil) returns to his boyhood home in the country – he is separated from his wife, his girlfriend has been cheating on him and his relationship with his daughter is strained. Both his parents now dead, he escapes from the difficulty of relationships with women and settles into his old family home to paint. He decides to breathe life into the place again and advertises for a gardener to restore the extensive gardens. (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) arrives on a rickety looking velo, and the two men recognize each other from early days at school. They seem only to have their shared beginning in common, their experiences and outlook on life are so different, but the two men become friends, gradually understanding each other’s perspective and developing a frank intimacy. Although ultimately the artist’s journey is one of redemption and trans...

Boyle pits victim against criminal in this dual perspective novel about identity theft. Dr Dana Halter is deaf, and a teacher of the deaf, living her life to the full, working, engaged to Bridger, a computer graphics film editor, and attempting to write a novel about language based on a historical figure – the mute wild boy of Aveyron. Always running late, she gets pulled over for a minor traffic violation and she is plunged into chaos. Someone has been using her name and is wanted all over the States for various felonies. Already a character with attitude, Dana’s steady anger at the world and everyone in it escalates when she is thrown, pitilessly, into jail for the weekend where she suffers indignity and humiliation. Her rage continues unabated throughout the novel as she obsessively tracks the fraudster who is to blame, forcing her fiancée to accompany her on her quest for revenge. Fiancée Bridger is unfailingly supportive and kind, but she gives him nothing. Nowhere in the entire s...

Generally implausible. Unlikely marriage followed by unlikely affair. April (Helen Hunt) marries Ben (Matthew Broderick), a Jewish boy with arrested development. She is almost 40 and desperate for a baby, and their odd relationship indicates lust for each other although they are unable to communicate, despite supposedly being best friends. Ben leaves her and goes back to mother. That same day she meets Frank (Colin Firth) and within a few days is in love with him but she still wants to have sex with her estranged husband. Already neurotic and fragile, her adoptive mother dies, leaving April with a lot of emotional baggage to deal with. But this is not all. Her birth mother, Bernice (Bette Midler), has tracked her down and wants a reunion. This set up is perfect for a farce and there are light moments. April initially doesn’t believe Bernice is her mother and gets pretty stressed about the near-stalking. Understandably attracted to Frank as the only stable character in this...

Kristen Scott Thomas plays Juliette, a woman just released from prison after serving 15 years. Reunited with her much younger sister, Léa (Elsa Zylberstein), Juliette tries to find where she fits in with her family and the outside world. When first seen, Juliette looks depressed, is silent and withdrawn, and almost hostile to her younger sister’s attempts to integrate her into her own warm family set up. It is not clear for a while where she has been, why the sisters are estranged, and why Juliette seems so resentful. Léa’s husband, Luc, is suspicious and family tensions are nicely observed. With little dialogue and a strongly visual emphasis, the narrative flowed a bit slowly at times and the reason for her imprisonment could have come a bit earlier. Only one scene in the entire film was clumsy exposition, with the awkward attempt by a social worker to draw out Juliette. Deeply wounded and fragile, she is too intelligent to be befriended by a busybody, however well meanin...

Casino Royale left Bond wanting revenge. QofS follows up with a frenzied opening car chase sequence, with Bond in the Aston screaming through tunnels, round bends, getting shot at and, eventually delivering his cargo. The unusual thing about this car chase is the camerawork. Rarely seeing whole vehicles, jigsaw close-ups of tiny bits of cars are slammed at the audience. This dizzying, anxiety inducing onslaught feels like being repeatedly hit in the face and deafened at the same time. Several times the cinematography mixes two dramatic events together, ie a horserace above ground with an interrogation below. The result is confusion and disorientation and is reminiscent of the noise and colour of carnival intercuts from early Bond movies. QofS incorporates motifs from other Bond classics – a flight battle in mountainous terrain and a speedboat pursuit. However, QofS omits the humour, the characterisation, the sexiness, the glamour, and a storyline. There is little sense of ...

Stylish, melodramatic story about the perils of desire, with elements of noir and dark humour. Harry (superbly played by Chris Cooper) is married to Pat (Patricia Clarkson) but his contented home life with her lacks romance. He falls for young, sweet Kay (Rachel McAdams) and decides that he will have to kill his wife to spare her the pain of him leaving. Cue an element of farce. Neither scheming nor worldly, McAdams’ femme fatale is an innocent, but she is still the prize that can drive a man to commit murder in order to claim her. Pierce Brosnan plays Harry’s deceptive, predatory male friend, out to steal the girl, and he narrates the voiceover as homage to 40s and 50s suspense movies. Deftly handled by Sachs, wonderfully shot, and beautifully styled in 1949 sepia tints, beiges and greys, post-war neat and tidy corporate America is a real treat. Period detail and accessories are spot on. Quality film-making, delightful intrigue and great fun, all in one package.

If you can stomach the soft porn indulged in for the first part of this film, it becomes an interesting examination of the Western fixation with the body, youth and sex. Focussing on decaying flesh and men’s attitudes towards ageing, it also gives charming insight into male friendship. Student Consuela (Penelope Cruz) has her kit off a lot so that her professor Kepesh (Ben Kingsley) can enjoy the pleasures of her fresh flesh, so we have to endure it too. The point laboured here is that she is youthful and beautiful, and her ageing lover feels very insecure about his maturity in comparison. The age gap doesn’t bother Consuela, however. The problem is all in Kepesh’s psyche. She loves him but he keeps her at an emotional distance whilst being possessive, jealous and neurotic about not being worthy. His certainty that the affair is doomed prevents him enjoying it, and seals their fate. He does have uncomplicated sex with a woman his own age (Patricia Clarkson) and this se...

Enthralling documentary about young Frenchman Philippe Petit, whose breathtaking audacity gets Enthralling documentary about young Frenchman Philippe Petit, whose breathtaking audacity gets him arrested for the ‘artistic crime of the century.’ Man on Wire has a strong theme of destiny throughout. Magician and unicyclist, the teenage Philippe sees a magazine article about the building of the twin towers of the World Trace Center in New York. At that moment his life’s purpose is clear. Everything he does is focused upon this one aim: to wire walk between the two buildings, half a mile above ground level. As bold and daring as a bank raid, the team manages to get onto the top floor of the Twin Towers, ready for the attempt. Film maker James Marsh uses archive footage, photographs, interviews, recreations and graphics to conjure up a dizzying, exhilarating film. Refreshingly dismissive of rules, Philippe has no time or patience for limits and restrictions. Driven by his pa...

Ah, the bucolic life. I walked through the woodland today to find feathers strewn along the path and a pigeon wing, bent, with red shredded flesh still attached. Red in tooth and claw, this sight of nature in the raw turns my stomach so I pick it up between two sticks and fling it into the undergrowth. I hope that its attacker was merciful, that the killer blow was decisive, and that it made good eating. Keira Knightley’s savaging by critics, public and press is less kind. In this country Tall Poppy Syndrome is endemic. There is puzzling resentment and jealousy of success unless we look at how that success is earned. Worker bees on low incomes feel used, underpaid and underappreciated. It’s no surprise that such people are angered when they see huge salaries and bonuses being paid without clear justification. KK has said, ‘I can learn, I can do this, or at least give me the right director and I’ll give it my best shot. I am trying to become a good actress, really I am.’ This is a nice ...

  Widowed Walter is a dry old stick. He returns to his long empty New York apartment and finds it occupied by an immigrant couple. Afraid of being deported, they leave, but Walter takes pity on them and invites them to stay. Young, handsome Syrian, Tarek and his energetic Senegalese girlfriend, Zainab, offer a contrast to the academic, lapsed writer whose life has ground to a halt. Zainab barely tolerates almost lifeless Walter but Tarek is kind, encourages Walter to play the drum and their friendship develops. When Tarek is arrested and detained, Walter’s reawakened affections motivate him to help the couple. Tarek’s mother arrives and Walter’s desiccated heart warms even more. Attractive, educated, cultured immigrants engage all Walter’s sympathies but these attributes cut no ice with official policy. Faced with the cold, impenetrable US immigration system, Walter’s passion fails to save his new friend, but he uses his love of music to keep alive Tarek’s...

Refreshing and funny, Audrey Tautou plays Irène, a scheming gold digger, who mistakes a poor waiter for a wealthy businessman. Passive, slightly depressed Jean (Gad Elmaleh) plays along, false prince to her false darling. When he is exposed as a fraud, Irène reveals her true colours. No darling but a shrewd materialistic manipulator, she bleeds Jean dry, dumps him and sets off in search of a new sugar daddy. Unable to shake off jobless, homeless and lovelorn Jean, the pair become allies and Irène coaches Jean in his new role as gigolo to a rich woman. Each has something to teach the other. In this world of grand hotels, chic boutiques and luxury, their collusion brings them closer. Set in the sunny, glamorous South of France, this charming romantic comedy takes a wry look at the vain and superficial, and Irène and Jean’s attempts to survive amongst the rich and idle.

On a rainy night in Truro the audience file in to a dimly lit auditorium. The curtains open onto a bright, very smart set – a stylish Manhattan apartment, boldly coloured in maroon and orange with a chrome and glass galley kitchen to one side. A young man enters from what must be the bedroom, wearing only a bath towel, and the row of middle-aged ladies behind me snigger and giggle, shoving each other and mumbling their approval. He moves around the apartment with confident ease, as though this is his place but, when a woman comes out of the bedroom in a robe, their exchange is perplexing. Not a couple at all, Camille (Karen Drury), a wealthy and successful jewellery designer, has brought this young man home from a party, and admits to a weakness for waiters with charm. She tries to pay him off but he won’t take the money and he won’t leave. His earlier confidence is replaced by what seems to be offended sensitivity, but soon becomes smug arrogance as he sits back in her arm...

A film about promises and secrets, this love story begins in1941 in Branagan, Michigan, takes us to Belfast during World War II, and during the ‘troubles’ in 1991, and completes the circle back in the US. Attenborough’s direction allows the audience to be active throughout, working out what is happening, calculating back to what must have happened earlier, and putting pieces of the puzzle together. Three friends all love Ethel Ann (Mischa Barton) although why they all love her is not clear. She’s very lovely to look at, but the script doesn’t give clues as to what makes her so exceptional that they love her for as long as they live. Her desirability is central to the story; the audience needs to feel as passionate about Ethel Ann as do Teddy, Jack and Chuck. Ethel-Anne chooses Teddy (Stephen Amell) and the two secretly marry because Teddy is believed to be not good enough for Ethel Ann. Say what? Teddy is handsome, polite, well-spoken, hard-working and decent. He’s b...

  When a film opens with a torrent of f***ing you might suspect a lack of imagination in the scriptwriting. The unseen foul mouthed Londoner is played by Ralph Fiennes as Harry, paymaster or gang boss. He’s sent Ken (admirably played by Brendan Gleeson) and Ray (Colin Farrell) to Bruges after a botched assassination, so they can hide out and await his instructions. The two are supposedly hit men but lack underlying menace so this may be a light hearted homage to ‘Pulp Fiction.’ Ken patiently tolerates Ray’s nervousness and the two spend time sightseeing. Nothing happens for a time although Ray does meet a girl working on a film set but, once he’s asked her out, she doesn’t work on it anymore which is puzzling. The earlier botched assassination also makes no sense as a small boy would run away or hide if he heard gunshots. Common sense and continuity flaws aside, there are references to ‘Don’t Look Now’ in the way Bruges is made to look sinister at times around the cana...

Simple, retarded asthmatic gasps and giggles her way through this nonsensical film from Mike Leigh. 30 year old Poppy’s arrested development is masked by her carer who provides meals and stability. This form of care in the community works well so that Poppy is able to extend her adolescence in this flat-sharing arrangement by climbing into bed with her carer and exhibiting teenage tactile behaviour. Her flatmate is tolerant, even when getting no answers as to where Poppy has been and whether or not she’s ok. To Poppy’s credit she holds down a job. Inconceivably a primary school teacher, she is left in a position of responsibility with young children for long periods without supervision. However, classroom activities are restricted to making masks out of brown paper bags in case anyone thought primary school teaching involved real work. Leigh raises the possibility of serious subject matter when a boy begins to bully others. Without parental involvement, a Socia...

Written in 1940, Miller’s play reached Broadway in 1944, closed after four performances, and knocked his career sideways. It must have been way before its time, because this play about a young man having it all while those around him fail and flounder is superb. Staged in 1944, post-depression, perhaps it was too realistic. Seeing the play today, it is about fate, acceptance, and philosophy, and sits comfortably with our modern understanding of psychological self-doubt and anxiety. Western neuroses recur about why some of us have wealth and success and some have nothing, locally and globally. Miller’s play questions how much control we have over our own destinies, and what effect we have when we try to force events. From a go-with-the-flow attitude to make-it-happen determination, The Man Who Had All The Luck suggests a combination of the two. David Beeves is a cheerful, self-taught motor mechanic with a small repair shop in Michigan. In love with his childhood sweetheart, al...

We are treated to a bizarre short film set in a hotel room in Paris with Jack’s girlfriend (Natalie Portman) before the main feature. As a result, Jack (Jason Schwartzman) holds attention in the main feature because we have some idea about his sense of loss. Perhaps if all three brothers had been given a short of their own we could have understood them better. The film blurb gives us the clue that three brothers haven’t spoken for a year, since their father’s death. Without reading that first, the film doesn’t show us this, or tell us why. What we see is a meeting of the brothers on a train in India, for the purpose of a spiritual quest orchestrated by brother Francis (Owen Wilson) heavily bandaged after a bad car accident. Peter and Jack humour him. Again, what’s the backstory? There are clues that their mother wasn’t around much for them and won’t want to see them, but no clues about their relationship with their father, or whether their low-level sibling rivalry has st...

Fabulous cinematography creates a moving painting; colours and images stay in the mind long after the film has ended. Intense darkness, golden lighting and lustrous colour bring the Old Masters to life. Costume designer Sandy Powell used old works of art for research, so costuming is lavish and rich while the camera lingers on fabric, skin and hair to produce an acutely sensory experience. Scarlett Johanssen plays the loyal and affectionate younger sister, Mary, used as a honey trap to charm the king and gain power for her family. Reluctant at first, she seems cast as unwilling whore but this fictional representation portrays Henry VIII and Mary Boleyn as tender lovers. Henry (Eric Bana) is shown to be capricious and easily bewitched by Anne although her power appears fleeting. Natalie Portman plays the scheming Anne, maturing from cocky, arch young girl to challenging temptress, before she loses her hold over him, and her descent into terrified desperation is effective an...

Tommy Lee Jones plays Hank, a retired military policeman, father to two soldiers. Mike, the youngest, goes missing shortly after his return to base from Iraq, and Hank sets out to find him. He comes up against Charlize Theron playing a desensitized female detective working amongst misogynistic officers. Hardened to human suffering, this woman in a man’s world is impatient with Hank when he asks for her help. However, the nature of the murder intrigues and touches her, and they form an uneasy alliance in the search for Mike’s killers. Theron is convincing as the isolated single mother; fallible, human but also determined. Lee Jones is on good form as the disciplined, methodical military man, who loses control just once, his emotions only for him to know. Susan Sarandon, as the bereaved mother, conveys the loneliness of grief and deep, internalized suffering. Handled with restraint throughout - dialogue, performances and cinematography, writer and director P...

Dodgy Clutch Theatre Co in assoc with The Market Theatre, Johannesburg UK Tour, March - April 2008 A bewitching production providing a great evening’s entertainment, with story, dance, music and song. The elephants of the title are stunningly beautiful, enormous puppets that are both awe inspiring and enchanting. Dancers and singers from Johannesburg and the UK combine to perform Elephant, a cautionary tale about forgiveness and humanity. This is Chief Zanenvula’s story: refused entry to heaven, he has to look back over his life to discover his mistakes. Accompanied by a manipulative new ‘friend,’ who has something of Alexei Sayle about him, the Chief revisits key scenes in his childhood, adolescence and maturity. He gradually understands how he has offended the spirit of Africa and learns how to redeem himself. This an energetic production: the dancing is varied, athletic and graceful; songs are soulful and lively, the text touching and comic. Staging and lighting recreates the warmth...