CARNAGE

Roman Polanski has co-adapted Yasmin Reza’s Tony Award Winning play ‘God of Carnage’ into a movie and despite the performances and Reza’s wonderful words it does still feel very much like a play that just happens to have been filmed.

All the action takes place in a very comfortable high-rise apartment in Brooklyn on one afternoon.  Two married successful couples are meeting to discuss an unfortunate incident between their two 11-year-old sons.  The Longstreet’s child Zachary was injured so they are the hosts, and Penelope the wife/mother, is determined to make a big drama out of the whole thing.  Nancy Cowan the other mother meets her strident nature initially quite compassionately, but as the afternoon progresses she lets her guard down and her conciliatory tone soon disappears.

Mr. Cowan is a cynical corporate lawyer who is trying to defuse a business crisis which results in his cellphone ringing off the hook which in turn gets Penelope even more wound up, and she and Cowan have some very intense skirmishes.  Mr. Longstreet on the other hand seems a jolly enough soul content with lending backing to his wife’s rather excessive demands for retribution, but when she pushes him too far suddenly there is no more Mr. Nice Guy anymore.

But it wasn't the subject of the story line that attracted me, but the excellent cast that Polanski pulled in for this four-hander piece.  I have never seen Jodie Foster shine so for years as she was superb as the uptight shrill politically and morally correct Penelope intent on starting World War 3 if she didn’t get her way on this.  She certainly pushed enough of my buttons,  and I was so ready to slap her! John C Reilly played her steadfast hubby who wanted to be the kind generous one even though he couldn’t work out why everyone was so pissed at him for abandoning the family's pet hamster in the street.  Kate Winslet was sublime as the chic Banker trying to placate strident Penelope whilst at the same time resisting doing serious harm to her husband who was only there under protest and hardly contributing to the discussion, The husband Alan, was played by the masterful Christoph Waltz who was a joy to watch as he verbally dug the knife into Penelope and twisted it in without any real effort.

And then there are Ms. Reza’s words.  Funny, bitter, very pointed and they land so accurately as all the verbal dexterity heats up to a vicious pace as the afternoon dissolves into near mayhem.  It’s not a perfect movie by any means, but it is still very enjoyable nevertheless.

PS And I kept looking out of the window of the Brooklyn Apartment wondering where the hell the movie was shot, as we know Polanski is limited when he can film!


★★★★★★★

THE IRON LADY

Ask any Brit and they will most certainly know when the first started disliking That Woman.  For me it was 1971 when in her first Cabinet job as Education Secretary she cut out free milk to school kids to save a few pounds and earned herself the moniker 'Milk Snatcher' which still sticks to her today. So I went into this movie hating the woman but wanting to love this version of her story, and I was not disappointed.

Filmmaker Phyllida Lloyd’s movie from a script by Abi Morgan is no hagiography.  It starts, and mainly focuses, on the ex Prime Minister in her dotage coping with the senility and/or Alzheimers, trying to simply get through her daily life comforted by the visitations from her dead husband Denis.  It is a compelling image, seeing someone who was once the most powerful female leader in the World now in such a debilitated state.

In a series of flashbacks the movie shows a young Margaret Roberts starting out from her humble beginnings as a Grocer’s daughter and against all odds becoming an MP for of one of the most chauvinist political parties. Surrounded by wealthy men from privileged backgrounds who assumed power was their birthright, she not only broke through the ranks, but also beat the lot of them at their own game to become their Leader and then Prime Minister.

The story was highly edited and included only a few of the landmarks of her career and life, and even when touching on some of her more contentious actions, it did so without comment or bias.  Significantly one of the most telling scenes was a close up of Thatcher taking control in the Falkland war, as this was a major turning point in her career. Prior to this she was so hated that her approval ratings where the lowest ever for any serving Prime Minister, in the UK and after her gung ho ordering the sinking of the Argentinian Warship Belgrano (even though it was sailing AWAY from the Falklands), she became the nation’s darling again.  For a time anyway.

The movie’s success however is less to do with what parts of Thatcher’s life it covered but by the superlative performance of Meryl Streep.  This was no mere clever impersonation as Ms. Streep captured the very essence of the woman not just in her mannerisms and that voice but especially in her chilling icy stare. It was a sheer joy watching her totally inhabit her whole persona even though I can still feel nothing but disdain for the woman who did so much irreparable damage to the whole structure of our society.

Aside from Ms. Streep’s performance, this is not the definitive portrayal of Thatcher, and I don’t think it should be even judged as a pretender to that claim.  The movie doesn’t pander to either those of us who still hate her, or those that still think she was holier than Mother Theresa.  It does however give one distinct viewpoint of how this infamous woman who grabbed the reins of power too tightly, lost the plot, and wouldn’t let go so the reins were snatched out of her hands, and she never recovered any equilibrium.


Ms Lloyd is a celebrated Opera Director and that shows some times especially in the over-the-top dramatic way she handles Thatcher's final exit from Downing Street which is almost as camp as a scene from Ms LLoyd's other claim to fame viz Mamma Mia the movie!

Aside from that it’s a tough movie for non-Brits to sit through because the quick glances of say the Poll Tax Riots simply do not send the same shudder down one’s back as it does automatically for us. And there are all  those in other countries whose lives and livelihoods were not ruined by her, still regard her as a Saint.  Especially in the USA.  But at least this fine film did get made.  Can you ever imagine if anyone was brave enough to propose a similar movie about Reagan! OMG!

Unmissable.  Love the performance and hate the woman.


★★★★★★★★★

SING YOUR SONG

A revealing documentary on Harry Belafonte the celebrated singer and Tony Award winning actor (and the first African American Emmy Award Winner) who’s extraordinary biography includes a lifetime involvement as an important Civil Rights Activist alongside Dr. Martin Luther King and the other leaders of the movement.  This illuminating insight shows a committed and dedicated multifaceted man who neglected his own family not just for his career but also for his tireless and extremely effective efforts as one of the main driving forces in the struggle for equal rights

There is a treasure trove of wonderful archived footage that bears witness to all his activist work, the extent of which I think will come as a surprise to many people.  And these clips are interspersed with interviews with a veritable who’s who of movie stars, politicians, performers and civil rights leaders that are/were a part of his life.

Susanne Rostock’s fine film may show that Mr Belafonte has slowed down in his old age, but his passion and commitments remain the same.

A great man with a story that we are all better off knowing.


★★★★★★★★

DETECTIVE DEE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE PHANTOM FLAME

This ancient Chinese Empire is just about to install its the first ever female Emperor in it’s history which is not going down to well with most of the old guard, and weird things start happening. When two government officials spontaneously combust, the Empress orders Detective Dee to be set free from the prison she had sent him when he had initially opposed her accession. As she  recognizes that he is the only one who could solve the mystery, she appoints him chief investigator on the case.

To try to work out the plot against the Empress, Dee interrogates everyone, including the religious (ventriloquist!) chaplain that uses stags for his mouthpiece and Dr. Donkey Wang the underground herbalist that lives in an elaborate series of catacombs and eats millipedes. Everyone is a suspect and in this hard-to-follow rapidly changing plot, it turns out that practically everyone is a ‘baddie’ including the Empress herself.

Did I mention that this was a Chinese martial art movie?   So one has to have a very vivid imagination and suspend all pretense of logic and reality.  It is not a genre that I know or usually even watch, but I was tempted to break my viewing habits as this was hailed as one of the best of its kind.  Director Hark Tsui is considered THE master of kung-fu movies and, the actor Andy Lau who plays the lead role is also pop singer that has won over 200 Awards, (not something that would seem an obvious fact when you see him on screen.)

So Tsui throws every single special effect and visual trick he can at this, and I guess it works.  I should be more reverent in my appraisal of what I am told is a fine example of this art form, but all I could focus on was the fact that the outrageous costumes and hairdos, the exaggerated acting, and the totally ridiculous plot made it THE CAMPEST thing I have seen for years. 


I loved it, BUT for all the wrong reasons.


★★★★★★★★

THE BANG BANG CLUB

The movie’s title comes from the name given to a group of combat photojournalists whose work witnessed the final years of struggle which resulted in the collapse of apartheid in South Africa.  The four guys gained the nickname because of the fearless way they got so close to their subjects in the face of real danger just to get their shots. The violence that the intrepid four encountered is very real and graphically portrayed in the movie which vividly shows both the brutal tribal cruelty and the police’s ruthlessness as this despicable period in history came to it's climax.

The photographers started to realize that it is impossible to remain totally detached from the nightmarish scenes that they record and their work did resonate around the World … two of them pick up Pulitzer’s …. but there is no hint of the effect these powerful images must have caused in help bringing about escalating the pressure from the international community on the Government. Instead the film focuses somewhat a little too much somewhat on the men’s partying and their romantic encounters instead.  It’s all based on a true story which has been made into this narrative by South African filmmaker Steven Silver who usually directs/produces documentaries which may be a clue as to why the movie really doesn’t gel too well together. 

Even if it had been a  complete of fiction, it would have still been a lame movie, but as something purporting to be real life, the members of the Bang Bang Club deserved to be portrayed better. And we certainly deserved a better movie.


★★★★★

THE MILL AND THE CROSS

Polish director Lech Majewski’s narrative is the story of how Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted his masterpiece 'The Way to Calvary' in 1564.  It relates of the painstaking way that Bruegel took with every minute detail of all the many characters and action that take place on his canvas. What few words are spoken are mainly by Bruegel himself as he explains some of his thought process behind each of the tableaus to Jonghelinck his Patron. The main action of the film is the observation of the daily lives of all the local peasant families, the townspeople and the militia that are the players in this piece.  Majewski includes no commentary on this, so many things that happen such as the cow being wheeled around in a cart and its owner being seized and bound to a cartwheel that is hoisted in the sky on a pole and pecked to death by vultures (?), happen without any explanation, and are at times, confusing to say the least.

It is unquestionably one of the most stunningly beautiful movies of the year.  The scenery and the sets (Majewski seamlessly combines both & uses green screen work) are visually quite breathtaking, and are dramatically lit to make the vast Flanders countryside simply glow.  The costumes are so remarkable that  they steal the attention away from the actors at times.

I had been attracted by the movie because one of its three stars was Charlotte Rampling,  but in fact she  plays Mary who has very little to do and even less to say, apart from the fact that she is 'helpless'. The wonderful Rutger Hauer was a very convincing Bruegel, but Michael York as his Patron was bad enough to qualify as camp, and one can only hope that he sticks to his career in voiceovers in the future.

A visual treat, that I am glad I didn’t miss.


★★★★★★★★

THE KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND

My, those Norwegians can be a dour and scary lot!  This movie based on a true story is set in Bastoy a reform school set on a remote island, which is like Alcatraz, but for kids.  The place is where ‘maladjusted’ boys aged 11 to 18 are ‘sensible and forcibly turned into useful Christian boys’ i.e. they are beaten and bullied and treated unmercifully until their spirit breaks.

Bestyreren, the school’s fierce and pious governor is the supreme overload of a cruel and heartless system that hands out harsh punishments for breaking any of his stringent rules such as talking at meals.

One day two new boys are brought to Bastoy, one labeled by the school as C19 who had allegedly murdered someone and he is determined to be the first person ever to escape the bleak imposing island, which seems to be covered in heavy snow all year.  It’s his story (hence the film's title) that is the focus of the movie but his unlikely friendship with C1 the Dorm Leader empowers  C1 to release his own fury at the unjust system just before he is about to get his freedom and thus starts the beginning of the end.

The camaraderie between the boys is the redeeming part of an inhuman system that is intended to crush them,  and how by the sheer nature of how they defend each other, shows more far more humanity than any of their sanctimonious bullying masters.  In the end it’s the boys who are pushed too far and they take over their prison-like school, and it takes the whole might of the Norwegian Army to repel them.

The interaction between boys and governor makes for compelling viewing because a forbidding and scary Stellan Skarsgard plays the unrelenting Bestyreen so brilliantly. He so excels at playing rigid and hard-hearted characters that seem as unrelenting and unwelcoming as the bleak landscape itself.

This rather imposing and immensely watchable movie follows other sadly true stories that uncover the abuse of children/teenagers by upright Christian people in recent history  such as ’The Magdalene Sisters’,  ‘Oranges and Sunshine’,  and all are good witness of these very troubled times lest we should forget. 


★★★★★★★★

CODEPENDENT LESBIAN ALIEN SEEKS SAME

As the title suggests this is a very campy take on all those wonderfully dreadful Sci-Fi 'B' Movies.  The Aliens are convinced that their over-active emotions will destroy the ozone of their planet and the only way around this is go to earth and have their hearts broken.   One Alien finds a lesbian stationary clerk who is so out of it she never grasps the fact that she is dating someone from another planet, while another two Aliens realizing how needy earth women are decide to settle with each other and an abundant supply of cheesecake.

It ‘s a great late night movie to watch when you are tucked up in bed (with an earthling) and want to have a good laugh before you nod off.  We previewed this at Sundance 11, and it has finally opened in NY.  It may not end up in your neck of the woods so put it on your Watchlist for when the DVD is released.


★★★★★★

THE HOUSE OF TOLERANCE aka L'APOLLONIDE

This rather bizarre movie from renowned French director Bertrand Bonello is set in a high end Brothel in Paris at the turn of the 20^th Century and is essentially a series of tableaus of near naked woman lounging around as if they are about to be painted.  The house is stunning and the girls are beautiful and so it is all quite decadent and lovely to look at, but underneath the surface its all more than a little creepy.

There is no plot as such as we just follow a period in the Brothel’s declining last years as it is doomed to close when the rents keep rising astronomically, although meanwhile one girl dies of syphilis and another is disfigured at the hands of one of the more sadistic wealthy men that inhabit the place.

There are no sex scenes at all in the film, which actually focuses more on the girls when they were ‘off-duty’ and there was a remarkable camaraderie and innocence (?) amongst them as they pull together more like a family than a group of working prostitutes.

A really odd affair which days later I still cannot fathom out what the point to this was, if there was one at all.  Maybe the clue is in the fact that Bonello is also a Prof at Le Fermis, the leading moviemaking school, and so just maybe this was an academic exercise, or even a vanity puff piece?  Who knows!   Interestingly enough his cast included two other important filmmakers: Xavier Beauvais   who directed the stunning 'Of Gods & Man', and Noeme Lvovsky who is best known for ‘Life Doesn’t Scare Me’.   And evidently being part of this movie didn’t either.

★★★★★★

THE TIME THAT REMAINS

The movie starts with the invasion of Palestine by the Israeli Army in 1948 and what follows is a very highly personalized account by an Arab Israeli of how life has continued there since then.  Most of the story is about filmmaker Elia Suleiman’s parents, and tell how his father’s resistance to the occupying forces is met with brutality that almost kills him and his spirits. There are long moments of silence in the telling of his story as he just sits and smokes witnessing how their lives no longer move forward at all.

What sets this account of the 50 + years since, is that Suleiman has a real sense of the absurd and tells it like a farce with a series of bizarre vignettes that are both satirical and very funny.  He doesn’t hide the anger and bitterness the Palestinians feel at the humiliation they suffer at the hands of the Israelis, instead he somehow finds comedy in the cruelty.

In the latter part of the story Mr Suleiman pays himself on the screen like a silent witness as he watches ill matched Israelis and Palestinians trying to achieve some kid of normalcy in the face of the never ending political strife and almost total indifference.  Time has passed, his parents are dead, fashions have changed but the daily struggle to survive in this volatile place is still the same.

The movie ends with a heavy techno remix of the Bee Gees 'Staying Alive', which on the face of it may seem odd, but after watching this delightfully fresh and quirky wee film for almost the past 2 hours you know its an inspired final track.

This is unquestionable a  refreshing and honest memoir of survival, and despite it’s tough topic it doesn’t linger on the inevitable heaviness but is in fact refreshingly simple and thus making it rather a splendid movie.  It does makes an interesting change to see a well documented period of recent history told from another perspective, and like Schnabel’s 'Miral' last year, it’s good to see it from a Palestinian viewpoint.


P.S. Mr Suleiman picked up a Palme D'Or Nomination for this. 

★★★★★★★★★

A BETTER LIFE

When you are an undocumented immigrant just trying to survive daily life in the US can be very tough.  Carlos, a middle-aged Mexican, and single parent gets by working as a gardener tending the lawns of wealthy Los Angeles homeowners.  He lives hand to mouth in a tiny rundown house, barely making ends meet, with Luis his teenage son who he is desperate to provide with a better life.  A crooked Lawyer who had promised to make him a legal resident took what little money he had managed to save.

Carlos works for Blasco another Mexican who has earned enough money to buy a farm back home and so how now wants to sell his truck and the landscaping business.  However as Carlos cannot get a driving license he is petrified of driving in the city as if the Police for any reason ever stop him, it would result in his deportation.  As the alternative is to go back on the street hustling for rare casual laboring jobs, Carlos decides to take the risk and take up Blasco's offer.  To do so he needs to persuade his married sister to lend him the money, and she bravely hands over her life’s savings to her big brother as he supported her in the past when they first arrived in the US.

First day out working as his own Boss and Carlos picks up an itinerant worker to help him, but the man does more than that and as Carlos is up a tree working, he helps himself to the truck and all the tools.  Carlos now jobless again, broke, and in debt to his sister for $4000, so he and Luis set off together see if they can trace the man and get the truck back.

This heart-wrenching emotional-charged movie’s accurate portrayal of how tough a life like this can be is so convincing mainly due to the tour-de-force performance of Demian Bichir as Carlos which has rightly earned him a Golden Globe Nomination. He has a quiet and rigid determination to do what’s necessary to ensure that Luis will not be forced into the well-trodden route of a gang member like all the other latino youths in his circle.  The relationship between father and son is not particularly cosy or even tolerant, but it has a rich bond of real love between the two men who have been abandoned by the mother and who have had to put up with all the inequalities of their situation.  I will defy anyone not to reach out for their Kleenex watching the final scene that these men play together.

P.S. The film has an odd provenance by the fact that it was directed by Chris Wietz, who's resume includes the Oscar Nominated ' About A Boy' in 2002 which he  followed with the dreadful 'Golden Compass', then one of the Twilight Movies, before  this moviewhere he’s really back on form.  Trivia note: Mr Wietz who used to act, and played the cute straight man ‘with a past’ Chuck in ‘Chuck & Buck’. 


★★★★★★★★

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE

This is a Crazy Silly Film in which a couple of different generations try to work out if they really should take no for an answer when they believe that the reluctant person they are pursuing really is their soul mate. 

It starts with a bang as Cal simply asks his wife Emily what she wants for dessert, and she asks for ‘a divorce’.  It’s totally out of the blue and is simply because she sees that Cal has grown complacent and lazy about their marriage after 25 years. He is stunned, as are their two kids, especially 13 year old Robbie who is having his own rejection issues and has a crush on the 17 year old baby sitter Jessica (who, it turns out has a secret crush on Cal).

Cal moves out of their home and starts to hang out in an upscale cocktail Bar where, in his shabby clothes and acting so morose, he stands out like a sore thumb.  He notices Jacob a suave lady-killer who seems to be able to make out with every beautiful woman in the bar. Jacob in turn spots Cal and after striking up a conversation with him, feels sorry for his plight and offers to turn his life around.  He lectures him on pickup techniques and does a major makeover job that turns Cal into a smartly turned out single dude and Jacob’s committed disciple. And Cal makes the cut and starts to be success in picking up some hot ladies and even having sex!

Emily meanwhile, who had confessed to a one–off quickie with a colleague at work, is kind of having second thoughts about actually pursuing a divorce when she catches sight of the new-improved Cal. Until that is they are at a Parent Teaching Meeting at school together and they both discover that Robbie’s teacher was one of Cal’s recent sexual conquests.

After this it’s young Robbie who is determined to pursue Jessica despite all her rejections because he is convinces that she is his soulmate, who encourages his father to re-woo his mother on the same basis.  Cal in turn passes on the same advice to the usually cynical confirmed bachelor Jacob who has actually fallen in love for the very first time and is scared stiff of not being able to make a committed relationship work

When they all get together they all have a lot more to be scared about, as writer Dan Fogelman's script neatly weaves all these different strands together so that they overlap wonderfully and make a delightful funny, and dare I say it, cute,  movie.

Two things really make this movie stand out from other romantic comedies.  Firstly nobody wishes anybody any harm : they are actually all good-hearted people. which makes for somewhat of a refreshing change.  And they all actually think marriage is a good thing.  Wow!  And secondly there has been some inspired casting choices made here : Cal is played by Steve Carrell who switches so well from misunderstood slob to hot catch; lovely Julianne Moore doesn’t have much to do as Emily, but Marisa Tomei shines as the reformed alcoholic school teacher who wanted more than a quickie; Jacob’s girl friend  Hannah is played by the sexy funny Emma Stone, and Jacob is Ryan Gosling the most perfect lounge lizard ever, and who is undoubtably the star of this piece.

Mr Gosling quite rightly has picked up one of his two Golden Globe Nominations this year for his performance here, and the fact that his other one is for his role in ‘The Ides Of March’ demonstrates how his enormous talent makes him excel in such different film genres.  And if that is not enough, he looks like  …….well, I hate to belittle his skills, but I simply couldn’t stop myself agreeing out loud when Hannah spies Jacob’s naked torso for the first time and simply blurts out ‘ Oh My God.  You look just like you have been photo-shopped’!  Exactly.


★★★★★★★★

LOVE CRIME

'Love Crime' opens with two immaculately dressed women in a chic Parisian drawing room at night and it’s really unclear what is going on here. Christine, the older of the two appears to be dictating notes to the Isabelle the younger one sitting with a laptop but at the same time she is also making hot and cold passes at her too. Philippe, a good looking young man joins them and is all over Christine who immediately summarily dismisses Isabelle claiming their meeting has ended. Thus starts an intriguing power struggle between these two high-flying female advertising executives that we soon realize can only end badly.  For one of them at least.

Christine, the Agency’s ruthless Boss, claims credit for her younger colleague’s ideas just one to many times, and so Isabelle deliberately overshadows her mentor by directly by-passing her and pleasing the American bosses back in Washington thus invoking Christine’s rage and her determination to kill off Isabelle’s career. This only provokes the younger woman into devising an elaborate plan that takes her own revenge so much more further than that. 

These are two very scary women : Christine is icy cold, level-headed, totally focused, manipulative and as she tells Isabelle, her mantra is ‘Want it …. And Watch out’.  Isabelle on the other hand is highly emotional and somewhat like a spoilt child who feels she has been deprived of what’s hers by right.  The only two things they have in common is their lust for power and for making out with Phillipe, but even with the latter Christine still only thinks about herself.

Stunning performances by Kristin Scott Thomas (fast heading to the top of my list of favorite actors) and the French star Ludivine Sagnier.  They are perfectly cast as the two rivals, particularly Ms. Scott Thomas as Christine who we are never really sure actually loves or hates Isabelle.  Or maybe both.  The plots success depends on the fact that we must assume that the French police are as dumb as they seem not to see through Isabelle’s scheme, but that’s really a minor irritant in this fast-paced totally enthralling drama.

It’s not a perfect piece but like the Agency’s Offices where there never seems much actual real work going on, it’s still beautiful to look at and enjoy.

P.S Director and Co-Writer Alain Corneau best known for ‘Tous les Matins du Monde’ sadly died just before the movie was premiered. 

★★★★★★★★

WE BOUGHT A ZOO

Benjamin Mee a 40 yr. old journalist dealing with the recent death of his wife and struggling to bring up his two young children in the city, decides that his teenage son’s expulsion from school is a wake up call to re-think how they should move forward as a family.  He goes house hunting and after exhausting the list of conventional homes for sale discovers a house in the country which he decides is absolutely perfect.  One tiny snag, it actually comes with a Zoo.  And not just any zoo but a dilapidated one that is on its last legs BUT which the Conditions Of Sale insist that he keeps in tact or the animals must be put down!

Egged on by his 7 year old daughter, he opts to keep the zoo open. He’s obviously a complete novice but fortunately has inherited a small-dedicated staff that is encouraged by Benjamin’s enthusiasm to fight the odds to pass the necessary Official Inspection to keep their License to remain open.  Disaster follows disaster and they run out of both funds and patience.  Almost.  Kelly the head Zookeeper is chief cheerleader throughout the whole process and although claims to work 24/7 always manages to look remarkably pristine and fresh, but then again she is played by Scarlett Johansson! Meanwhile the sulky teenage boy still grieving for his mother doesn’t share his father’s enthusiasm, and almost wrecks their plans too

It is such a preposterous story that it had to be true.  And it is.  Loosely.  The real-life Benjamin Mee is a Brit journalist who when his father died, removed his extended family from London and bought the ailing Dartmoor Park Zoo in the West Country and had a really tough time trying to make it a success.  And now its been given the Hollywood treatment and made into a feel-good family movie to inspire us into thinking that even ridiculous ideas like this can end happily ever after.

Matt Damon played Benjamin as a solid good chap trying to do his best, but I was more enamored with Thomas Haden Church playing his accountant brother who always preached doom and gloom. I did somehow expect more bite to the piece because the movie had been directed by Cameron Crowe who’s work is usually much more edgy than this, but it ended up as tame as the animals themselves.

If you like cutesy, or think that having one dog as a pet is never enough, then this is for you.

★★★★★★

EAMES: THE ARCHITECT AND THE PAINTER

The title of this engrossing documentary on the lives and work of design icons Charles & Ray Eames is somewhat misleading as we soon discover that there were so much more than just an architect and a painter. They were also furniture designers, filmmakers, graphic designers and visual communicators par excellence. In fact this multi-faceted highly influential pair are rightfully credited with giving shape to America’s 20^th Century.

Charles was already married when he first met Ray at Design School in Michigan in the late 1930’s but by 1941 they were married to each other and set off for LA to start a  working life together. After designing a revolutionary splint for the war effort, they developed the same  technique further to create some brilliant molded furniture that is still made by the Herman Miller Company today.  Eames's philosophy was ‘the best for the least for the most’ and thus started decades of projects that was influential in bringing their stunning design aesthetics   to the widest possible audience.

As the film follows major projects that the Eames undertook with large corporations, you appreciate that the breadth of their work is extraordinary.  Based in Venice California the Eames Studio was a constant hive of activity that attracted a whole slew of designers and crew who were instrumental in providing this prodigious output alongside Charles and Ray but who were never allowed any public acknowledgement or credit for their contributions.

Everyone interviewed, without exception, described the devilishly handsome Charles as charismatic and although behind the scenes Ray was an equal partner, Charles was always the one in the limelight. Their relationship proved strong enough to survive Charles’s romantic love affairs on the side.

This remarkable film gives a real insight into the lives of this influential couple who had such a way of making people look at the world differently, and had a mission of putting joy back into life.  And boy did they so succeed with that!

Charles insisted that an ‘artist’ is a title you earn and cannot give yourself, but it is one that the world is truly happy to use to describe both him and Ray.

Unmissable.


★★★★★★★★★