Colossal (2016)

IMDB: 6.2/10

Rotten Tomatoes: 80%

Cast
Anne Hathaway as Gloria
Dan Stevens as Tim
Jason Sudeikis as Oscar

Director
Nacho Vigalondo

Writer
Nacho Vigalondo

Cinematographer
Eric Kress

Plot Synopsis:

Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is an out-of-work party girl who is thrown out by her sensible boyfriend, Tim (Dan Stevens) and is forced to move back to her hometown where she reconnects with a childhood friend, Oscar (Jason Sudeikis).

Meanwhile in Seoul, South Korea, a giant monster terrorizes the population. Gloria soon discovers a bizarre connection with the phenomenon.

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This is a wonderfully strange movie that is sure to keep a lot of the audience talking long after the movie has ended. It has the quirky character of films like Donnie Darko but is at the same time an honest albeit surreal look at different themes such as addiction, self-destructive behavior (realized in Godzilla proportions), and abusive relationships. This genre-bender of a film is filled with a number of unexpected twists and tonal shifts that writer and director Nacho Vigalondo juggles with graceful ease.

Although Hathaway turns in a strong performance in the film, it is Jason Sudeikis  who is an absolute revelation here. His transformation from his classic affable and funny guy persona to something darker towards the climax is reason enough to see the film.

Imaginative, inventive and smart- this is a film that you should definitely add to you must- watch list. 

Book: Notes from a Small Island

Just finished reading Bill Bryon’s book on his travels around England. Similar to his other travel writings, this book is filled to the brim with insightful observations of the local culture-its endearing quirks and idiosyncracies.

Here are a couple of snippets from Bryson’s adventure in Great Britain:

I have often been struck in Britain by this sort of thing – by how mysteriously well-educated people from unprivileged backgrounds so often are, how the most unlikely people will tell you plant names in Latin or turn out to be experts on the politics of ancient Thrace or irrigation techniques at Glanum. This is a country, after all, where the grand final of a programme like Mastermind is frequently won by cab drivers and footplatemen. I have never been able to decide whether that is deeply impressive or just appalling -whether this is a country where engine drivers know about Tintoretto and Leibniz or a country where people who know about Tintoretto and Leibniz end up driving engines. All I know is that it exists more here than anywhere else.

Or, this one-which isn’t exactly of England but captures the sometimes snarky tone of Bryson that gives his books its characteristic humor:

Finally, I happened on a hilly street with a few modest eateries and plunged randomly into a Chinese restaurant. I can’t say why exactly, but Chinese restaurants make me oddly uneasy, particularly when I am dining alone. I always feel that the waitress is saying: ‘One beef satay and fried rice for the imperialist dog at table five.’ And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years, haven’t yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?

For fans of travel writing or for those who are interested in the culture of England, Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island is a worthy addition to your library.

Dunkirk (2017)

Rating: A-

Official site: http://www.dunkirkmovie.com/

Another visual feast of a movie from Nolan. But compared to his other films, this film deceptively feels simpler.

A master class in cinematography, color, pacing and tone-Dunkirk may not pack the same emotional punch as other war films like Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List but the film’s subtlety more than makes up for its rather opaque characters. Besides, this may exactly be the point. War films as we know it, tends to center on the emotional burden and horrific travails of an individual. And although Dunkirk throws focus on the individual sacrifices and decisions of some of its characters-the sheer immensity and impersonality of the war experience is what is reflected by the film. The wide sweeping shots of the beach where thousands of soldiers wait to be evacuated, the immensity of the rather short travel across the English channel, and the breadth and width of the skies all serve to heighten this perception.

The three part narrative separated and at the same time unified by its disparate timelines is a deft technique to remind us yet again of the scope of what Nolan is trying to portray in the film. An hour in sky dodging and chasing enemy planes is a lifetime and a week of waiting and devising an escape from the Dunkirk beach is an epic story. And yet many more stories that remain untold in the time between.

At first blush and despite the film’s display of technical mastery, the characterization of the film’s protagonists may not what many expect. The characters do not have back stories nor is sufficient time given for traditional characterization. Which given Nolan’s extremely tight traid of timelines makes sense. However, despite this limitation, the film manages to include a number of understated moments that portrays not how a “Hollywood” war film is supposed to be but rather an approximation of the actual experience of surviving a war. Of alliances made in the spur of the moment, the choices one makes and the repercussions it has for the individual and for others, and the minute acts of heroism and the transcendence of cowardice and selfishness.

 

The Ornithologist (2016) O Ornitólogo (original title)

João Pedro Rodrigues’ The Ornithologist is the first work that I have seen from the acclaimed film maker and judging by the reviews of the film, probably the best introduction to the rest of his works. Known for his erotic and disturbing images, The Ornithologist, is filled to the brim with Christian symbology mixed with pagan rituals contained in a blasphemous and irreverent reinterpretation of the trials of St. Anthony of Padua. Although many reviewers claim that it isn’t necessary to be familiar with the story of the saint, it certainly provides a deeper appreciation and at the same time, adds to the ambiguity of the film.

Fernando (Paul Hamy) in an expedition to study the black storks ends up wandering in a surreal landscape of the Portuguese forest after his kayak capsizes. He is initially rescued by the two lost Chinese pilgrims who inexplicably re-creates the martyrdom of San Sebastian by stringing up Fernando to a tree. Thus begins Fernando’s journey and travails that parallels those of St. Anthony of Padua. Meeting a number of characters along the way from the deaf-mute goat-herd, Jesus to Amazon huntress in what appears to be his own pilgrimage towards enlightenment.

Morose and complex yet strangely hypnotic and engaging. There is a lot of things to ponder and dissect in this film.  A lot of this has to do with Paul Hamy’s compelling performance whose most mundane daily rituals and more so of his perseverance in his journey keeps the audience rooting for him.

Rating: A

 

Lady Macbeth (2017)

William Oldroy’s debut film, Lady Macbeth, is adapted from Nikolai Leskov’s 1865 novel Lady Macbeth of Mtsenk District is delicious macabre tale of a passion and revenge. Florence Pugh as the eponymous, charismatic and unrepentant killer delivers an intense and star-making performance. Running only under an hour an a half, the film packs a lot of meat-not only in the performances but the complications that it presents that is sure to give many of its audiences a lot to talk about. Bringing in themes of sexuality, violence, race and class.

Set in 19th century rural England, Pugh is a young woman sold into marriage for a piece of land to a sadistic and oppressive son of a wealthy mine owner. Both the father, Boris (Chistopher Fairbank) and the husband, (Paul Hilton) admonishes Katherine to keep to the house despite her expressed desire to be outdoors. The cold manor house and the daily ritual of getting into her corset and the prolonged absence of the men highlights Katherine’s oppression and solitude. A condition that the mutinous and headstrong heroine refuses to suffer. She eventually crosses paths with Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis), an equally passionate young estate worker, whom she begins an affair with. From here on, the couple deals with the complications of their situation with ruthless abandon until its dark conclusion.

A movie worth watching not only for its macabre elements but also for its rather sly take on different issues such as race as embodied in the characters of Sebastian, the housemaid, Anna (Naomi Acke) and even the young ward, Teddy (Anthon Palmer). Or, its treatment of female sexuality subjected to the tyranny of patriarchal order and its consequences. In short, a must-see movie and an incredible debut for both Oldroy and Pugh.

Rating: A-

 

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010)

Luc Besson‘s take on Tardi’s comics on the adventures of the plucky and charismatic Adele is a welcome return to the adventure movies of old. Think of it as the French version of Indian Jones or the female and far more engaging version of Tin Tin (the recent Hollywood reincarnation). With the intrepid adventurer and novelist, Adele played by Louise Bourgoin and surrounded by a supporting cast who gamely bring their sometimes absurd characters to life, this fanciful yarn has everything from a pterodactyl to a gaggle of mummies. Add to the mix a witty script with a good dash of heart and you come up with one of the truly fun films in recent years.

Loosely based on several of Tardis’ works but largely from “Adele and the Beast” (1976) and “Mummies on Parade” (1978), we find Adele on a quest to bring back to life Ramesses II‘s doctor/physician Patmosis in order to revive her sister Agathe, who has been in a coma for five years following a freak accident involving tennis and a hatpin. To complicate matters,  Professor Espérandieu  (Jacky Nercessian) whose telepathic skills are integral to Adele’s plans has been sent to death row after being implicated in the case of  136 million year-old pterodactyl egg hatching. Hilarity ensues.

Although many of the audiences today may find many of the effects dated, the film has enough charm and laughs to allow for such shortcomings to be overlooked. In fact, this particular viewer wouldn’t mind finding out what comes next for Adele.

Rating: A

Ghost in a Shell (2017)

Ghost in a Shell directed by Rupert Sanders and based on the cult-favorite Japanese Manga of the same name by Masamune Shirow  is yet another valiant but flawed effort from Hollywood in converting foreign works to mass directed blockbusters. The original source material which boasted stunning visuals and a heady existential and philosophical questions appear to have been diluted in its live-action recreation. Perhaps, in its effort to ensure mass appeal, the writers felt the need to make the movie fit into the now-too-familiar trope of the dystopian fad,  resulting in many of the complex questions of the original to be glossed over.

Although the movie is not one to write home about, it is still a beautifully made film with memorable set pieces that in themselves make it worth the watch. That being said, I feel that this movie, given its desire to have a wider audience and its sacrificing of the source materials more difficult aspects, felt tepid when it came to its action sequences. Even the famous fight between the invisible major and the hacked assassin failed to translate in this film. The fight scenes not only failed to give the film a shot of adrenaline that would have pleased a good chunk of its target audience but they were also largely forgettable.

All in all, the ghost of the movie felt too weak to shine through the glossy veneer of its shell.

Rating: B-