Drive

"... I don't sit in while you're running it down. I don't carry a gun. I drive"

A Hollywood stunt driver / part time wheelman for L.A’s criminals (Ryan Gosling) gets embroiled in a crime that puts him on a collision course with the Mob after taking a job in order to protect perhaps the only two people in the world that he has any feelings for. The cool and unflappable Driver seeks out those who have wronged him and attempts to save his own and his love interest’s lives.

This was easily one of the top 10 best films of 2011 and possibly inside my top ten of the last several years. The film and its central character are effortlessly cool and both have become both instant classics and cult favourites. Although the film’s time period is never specified it seems to have a foot both in the present and in the 1980s. The style, design and music reminded me of the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as it has that kind of 80s Miami almost art deco style-stucco style. The colour palette is beautiful and dominated by the colour gold, perhaps in a nod to its L.A setting and also the Driver’s nostalgic view of L.A with its strong silent movie stars and dames in need of rescue. The whole film has a very Noir feel to it. The gold is most noticeable in Gosling’s wardrobe as he sports golden shoes and a fantastic gold scorpion jacket. More subtlety though the sun kissed L.A streets also glisten gold.

Like Crazy

"I just have to say one thing and it's really important that you just listen to me. I just... "

Like Crazy is a 2011 Romantic Drama in which two young students fall in love but get torn apart by problems with immigration. Anna (Felicity Jones) is studying Journalism at college in L.A. on a student visa when she meets and falls in love with Jacob (Anton Yelchin). The two begin a heartfelt and romantic relationship during which Anna overstays her visa. After returning briefly to the UK for a Wedding she is denied re-entry to the US and is forcibly deported. The couple then struggle to maintain a relationship or even a friendship over a distance of several thousand miles and discover that the time and distance is not the only thing that is capable of keeping them apart.

This film produced a flurry of emotions from me. During the first act I kept saying “awww” as it is incredibly cute. The two actors felt like a very realistic and sweet couple and reminded me of being in the first throws of love. By the second act I was screaming at the US Immigration Officials and then ended up telling the central characters off, even though I’m about 80% sure they couldn’t hear me. The film goes up and down, in and out, backwards and forwards, roundabout and back again and I went with it every step of the way.

Cosmopolis

"It's not the sex I've had, it's the sex I want that you can smell"

Young billionaire Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) decides to take his stretch limo across New York City for a haircut. Along the way he conducts business, meets friends, family and acquaintances before being mobbed by anarchists and confronting someone who has malicious intent to harm him. 

This film reminded me of a good Shakespearean play; I only understood about half of it but enjoyed it a lot. There are long elongated stretches of duelling dialogue which are spoken in a half alien language of metaphors and double meanings. The word ‘this’ takes on new meanings and is used in – it feels like – almost every sentence. Much like a Shakespearean play there are odd comic moments and in keeping with Director David Cronenberg’s cannon, brief scenes of extreme violence. These few instances ignited some of the more drawn out and dare I say duller scenes to keep the audience on tenterhooks. Despite these flashes this wont be a film for everyone and a man next to me in an early afternoon screening fell asleep while a couple on the row in front left about half way in.

The Tramp

A Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) is on the road when he rescues a farmer’s daughter (Edna Purviance) from thieves out to steal her money. As a reward the Tramp is taken in and offered work by Edna’s father (Ernest Van Pelt). On the farm the Tramp is asked to halt a second attempt by the criminals and ends up in a love triangle.

This was Chaplin’s 6^th Essanay film and the first I had seen before watching the studios output in full. It marks the first time that the Tramp is seen fully formed although Chaplin had played the character before. Here the tramp is a much more rounded character and although he still looks out for number one he is more inclined to help others and in fact ends up leaving the farm so that he doesn’t get in the way of Edna and her boyfriend. This is a quite different Tramp from say In the Park and The Champion.

The Proposition

"Ah Australia. What fresh hell is this?"

After a gang commits a horrific crime in 1880s Australia, local Police Captain (Ray Winstone) offers to spare the lives of two Burns’ brothers if one of them, Charlie (Guy Pearce) kills their older brother Arthur (Danny Huston) who was responsible for the crime. As the youngest brother (Richard Wilson) rots in jail with his execution looming, Charlie has just nine days to track down Arthur and bring his body to the Captain.

The film’s opening titles show original photos mixed with stills from the set which are made to look aged. This is a nice little touch which helps to create the period setting. The look and feel of late Victorian Australia is captured wonderfully with a mixture of fantastic sets, costumes and locations. There is a fabulous juxtaposition between the Captain’s little bubble and the rest of the film’s locations. He often remarks that “I will tame this land” and his house, garden and wife look as though they have been neatly dropped from a London suburb. Outside of this however the land is sweaty, dusty and grim. People are unwashed and clothes are stained brown and torn.

A Jitney Elopement

Edna (Edna Purviance) has been betrothed to a rich Count by her father (Ernest Van Pelt) but she already has a secret love, The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin). Edna persuades her love to save her and he impersonates the Count at tea with Edna and her father. Once the Count (Leo White) turns up with his fantastical facial hair The Tramp is thrown out. Later in a park the foursome come together again and the two young lovers attempt to elope in an act that brings about a prolonged car chase.

There are two very distinct halves to this film and I believe that the first half is amongst Chaplin’s best Essanay work to date. Having come off In the Park which was fast and a little bit messy, the first half of A Jitney Elopement was surprisingly slow, calm and more reminiscent of his later feature films. The second half though features a full on frenetic car chase which takes place in and around San Francisco and makes this Chaplin’s most sprawling film to date. The title incidentally comes from the type of vehicle that the couple attempt to run away in – a kind of shared taxi.

The Limelight

"I'm the guy that invented peanut butter"

The Limelight is an ultra low budget comedy drama that was written, directed and stars comedian Glen Maney. Maney plays Gary Shand, a middle aged stand up comedian who in his own words has lost his wife, his kids, everything. Constantly short of cash, Gary tries desperately to get work through his agent Al (Ricky Grover), a non nonsense hard man who appears to enjoy watching Gary suffer. Gary’s only friends appear to be a young stand up called Sean (Patrick Monahan) who steals his material and bartender Adrian (Mark Monero) who has dreams of being a councillor but is unable to console Gary. The plot follows Gary through his struggles until he is ready to end it all. But is redemption just around the corner?

I was asked to review this film by a friend who knows Glen Maney. Because of this I was worried that I wouldn’t like it and would have to tell him that I thought his friend’s film sucked! On the whole though I’m pleased to say that I did enjoy the film although it is not without its faults. Firstly I thought that the premise and story was excellent and was something that is relatable. The idea of a comic who hasn’t quite made it and is struggling with personal problems is a great narrative idea but I felt that the film could have been punchier and is perhaps better suited to TV. In an episodic format I would have happily returned to see how Gary was getting on week after week.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

"Is it sexy?"

"Sexy for Phoenix.."

Martin Scorsese’s forth picture and the forth in my Scorsese in Sequence series is Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn) is a ex lounge singer turned housewife who lives with her pre teen son Tommy (Alfred Lutter) and her emotionally cold and distant husband Donald (Billy Green Bush). After Donald is killed while driving his truck Alice takes the opportunity to travel through the South Western States of America in search of work as a singer in order to get to Monterey where she hopes to settle and rebuild her singing career.

This is Scorsese’s first film that is overtly comedic. While each of his three previous films had occasional funny moments, Alice’ is the first Scorsese film that I’d describe as a drama-comedy. This doesn’t mean that it’s a laugh a minute popcorn film though. Like all of his funnier films (The King of Comedy, After Hours) there is still a strong dramatic thread to it and it can be sad and even distressing in places.

The film opens with an idealised view of Alice’s childhood in which she is stood outside a house, clutching a doll. This scene is quite surreal and feels like a homage to the Wizard of Oz. The set features obvious fake backdrops and what looks like a flimsy set house and is filmed with a deep red filter. Unlike Oz where Dorothy wants to escape Kansas it feels like Alice is looking back on her childhood wishing she could escape her adult life and return to that idealised red world.

Mulholland Drive

Ooookaayyyy…. So. On Mulholland Dr. L.A. a woman (Laura Harring) is in the back of a car. In the front seat is a man with a gun to her head. Before he is able to fire at her another car hits theirs killing everyone but the woman. She escapes through scrub land and finds herself in a small apartment complex where she is able to sneak into the apartment of an old woman who is leaving town for a while. Meanwhile Betty (Naomi Watts), a young woman with acting aspirations arrives in L.A. and arrives at the same apartment which belongs to her Aunt. She goes inside but finds the escaped woman in the shower. The woman is unable to remember her name and after telling Betty all she remembers is an accident, the two of them set about trying to discover her identity. For some reason the woman’s bag is full of $100 bills and a single blue key. After much searching and seemingly unlinked sub plots a blue box is discovered and opened with the key. After that my internal monologue went a bit like this; “Wait... No So… That means… No… But… He was… Hang on… Ay?... Huh?... Who’s that?... Oh of course… Nope.

This is a completely mental film but I thought it was great. For two thirds it is a mystery with the odd surrealist moment thrown in. I found this part of the film really interesting and complex and had no idea what was happening or where it was going. Despite this I was enjoying the ride. Then it goes crazy. Suddenly people aren’t who they were and characters appear in strands of the story that they had no connection with. One character goes from an amnesiac to a lesbian to the partner of a film director in a couple of scenes while another goes from a vibrant and talented young woman to down and out prostitute. I don’t know how or why and on further reading it turns out that the cast didn’t either.

British Council Film Collection

The British Council Film Collection is an archive of over 120 short documentary films made by the British Council during the 1940s designed to show the world how Britain lived, worked and played. The films vary in length between around three and thirty minutes and show all aspects of Britain during this tumultuous decade. The films were produced as a way of promoting Britain and Britishness and were seen in over 100 countries as cultural propaganda, as a way of counteracting the Nazis own propaganda about Britain being stuck in the past. In amongst the collection there will be at least a few films that are of interest to everyone with subjects as diverse as the Criminal Justice System, Town Planning, Shakespeare, Ship Building and even the life of an Onion...

Although at the time these films were produced to show how modern and diverse Britain was they feel very dated now. They are voiced over by men with accents that no longer exist outside an American tourist's imagination and you'll be hard pressed to find anyone who isn't white on film. Some of the views are also quite outdated. In one film nursing is described as "the most interesting and satisfying career open to women." If you are familiar with any of the towns and cities featured in the films then their appearance will also be a big shock to you. The country has changed a lot in seventy years. Most of the films are shot during the Second World War and this is another interesting feature about them. We are able to see how the nation coped with rationing, bombing and death on a daily basis.

Below are links to and a brief description of four of my favourite films. These are films which for various geographical, historical or personal reasons were of interest to me.