45 Years

For his third feature film British writer/director Andrew Haigh has made yet another intimate drama, but unlike the previously two this time his subjects are neither young or gay. His story here centers on a retired middle-class couple leading a rather slow-paced idyllic life on the Norfolk Broads in England. Kate Mercer (Charlotte Rampling) and her husband Jeff (Tom Courtenay) are making plans to celebrate their 45th Wedding Anniversary at the end of the week. Well if the truth be known, it is ex school teacher Kate who is doing all the organizing whilst Joe just potters on with his normal daily routine. They had to cancel the party planned for their 40th Anniversary when Jeff became ill, so this new event is intended to make up for their disappointment last time.

Their peace on this Monday however is abruptly shattered with the arrival of the morning mail and the shocking discovery of news that Jeff's ex-fiancee Katya's body has just been found. She had fallen down the crevasse of a glacier when they were on a walking holiday in Switzerland over 50 years ago. Kate had briefly known of the women's existence when she first met Jeff, but she was shocked to discover now that he had been notified as he was listed as Katya's next-of-kin, and that he was actually seriously considering flying to Switzerland to identify the corpse.

As the week plays out and Jeff starts to get sullen and withdrawn over this,  and when Kate realizes that Jeff has at best been economic with the truth about the whole affair, she begins to re-assess their own relationship and starts to feel a mixture of jealously, confusion and annoyance. When she digs around amongst all their old photos stored up in the attic for further clues, she comes across some slides of Jeff's Swiss trip and discovers another very unwelcome surprise.

Whilst Jeff selfishly seems like he is aware of the effects that Katya's re-appearance in their lives has on Kate, he still goes about checking out possible travel plans to Switzerland surreptitiously as essentially he knows that if he goes through with them, it will cause a rift at a time when they should be even more together. He does actually make an effort one night of trying to re-kindle the flame with Kate after which she ends up re-assuring him of her own feelings for him.

This most gentle of marital dramas between this quintessential English couple never ever wanes due mainly to the performances of the two superb veteran actors who add both such warmth and also pathos to their roles. Rampling plays Kate as a strong and silent independent woman who observes everything and takes it all in, but she rarely talks about it and never ever makes a fuss. Courtenay portrays Jeff as very private person who would prefer to be left alone, and he has increasing difficultly accepting either change or matters that are out of control.  He plays his emotional hand well though and gives Kate ... and the movie ... the closure that this drama deserves. 

Haigh's last movie 'Weekend' in 2011 was a rather brilliant success, garnering him and his two actors a whole mantelpiece of awards, and became a new gay classic. 45 Years may appear like a rather major shift in genre, but actually there is a marked correlation between these two movies as both are very un-showy and affectionate studies of how these intimate relationships span their natural course. This new movie will not make so many waves  however because seeing seniors being even a tad romantic makes it a tougher sell at the box office, which is sad as it's a wee gem that so deserves to find it's audience.

★★★★★★★★

Every Thing Will Be Fine

Minutes into this movie when Tomas (James Franco) is driving home through a snowstorm in the middle of some isolated countryside and is involved in a fatal accident, you have this sinking feeling that despite the title, actually nothing will be fine. Despite everyone assuring him that the accident was unavoidable and that he was totally blameless, Tomas cannot help sinking further into the gloomy depths that he was heading for before this even happened.  He is a published author who now has a severe case of writer's block, and also his relationship with his girlfriend Sara (Rachel Adams) has now reached a dead end too. 

He is not alone in his state of despondency as everyone else seems somewhat miserable in this throughly depressing story directed by the German auteur Wim Wenders from a script by Bjørn Olaf Johannessen. Tomas spends the rest of the time searching for some sort of forgiveness for the young boys death.  First with Kate (Charlotte Gainsbourg)  the boy's extremely eccentric mother who quietly tries in vain to reassure Tomas, and offer him some emotional support as she seems to have dealt better with the death of her son than he has.

Tomas than even seeks some sort of comfort from his own elderly father now confined to a Seniors Home, but he is so bitter and angry at how pointless his own life has become now that he is in his dotage, and he is downright nasty to his son.

The action then moves forward a decade and now Tomas seems to have come to terms with the fact that he may never entirely get over the trauma, but he has married Ann (Marie-Josee Croze) a single mother who works for his literary agent.  He is not only back writing but his new books have been extremely well received and he is becoming famous as a result of his success. Then into this new slightly fragile set up enters the dead boy's brother Christopher (Robert Naylor) who had survived the accident and is now 18 years old and looking for some answers of his own.  

It is a rather grim affair all around and it is hard to really empathize with Tomas wallowing in self pity as Franco gives such a wooden and stiff performance to the point of actual irritation.  Gainsbourg, playing to type. fairs better as the loner who seems to revel in her isolation even though she still comes over as quite morose most of the time.

The biggest disappointment of all in this rather soulless movie with little to redeem itself, is that it is the work of Wenders whose stunning body of work was topped last year with the extraordinary The Salt Of the Earth which quite rightly earned him a Nomination for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards .

★★★★

Legend

To Brits of a certain age, particularly Londoners, despite their acts of unspeakable violence the Kray Brothers have always been considered with great affection as part of the folklore of the East End in the 1950's and the 1960's.  Their exploits filled the tabloid newspapers at the time, as despite their thinly veiled gangster activities they became celebrity club owners mixing with the rich and the famous until it all came crashing down in 1968 when the Law finally caught up with them once and for all. Now their quintessential English story, has been made into yet another movie, this time with the perfect title of Legend,  written and directed by an American Brian Helgeland, although he based it on John Pearson's book The Profession of Violence that the Krays had commissioned him to write. Helgeland is actually following a small new trend of international filmmakers edging into a territory that they had been excluded for years and producing some of the best British period dramas such as Danish Lone Scherfig's "An Education" and "The Riot Club" and Swedish Tomas Alfredson's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor".

Helgeland tells the story through the eyes of Frances (an excellent Emily Browning) the petite and rather fragile young girl who Reggie first dates and then who eventually becomes his wife. She's an East Ender so she is well aware of all the stories of the criminal activities that Reggie and his twin Ronnie get up, but this never stops her trying to persuade him to go 'straight'. That in itself takes on a potentially different meaning with psychopathic Ronnie who is so mentally unstable and completely fearless that in a fiercely heterosexual culture he actual revels in the fact that he is gay. When an American gangster (Chazz Palminteri) promises to get him a Philadelphian girl, Ronnie simply trots out with “I prefer boys. Italians. Sometimes Greek. I’m not prejudiced."

Thanks to costume designer Caroline Harris, Frances is perfectly clad in the trendy clothes which locals like her favored in the early 60's which were a tad shinier and more sparkly than the trendy Carnaby Street togs of the time. Helgeland on the other hand somehow never makes her character complete and her  delicate psyche is touched upon frequently, but never fully explained. In fact he doesn't elucidate on many of the infamous participants who are a significant element of the story such as the intrepid Scotland Yard Police Inspector Nipper who devoted his life to capturing the Twins, or the aristocratic Lord Boothby caught up in the gay orgies at Reggie's flat.  The focus is purely on the brothers themselves which is done in the most minute detail, and quite rightly so given the tour-de-force performance that Tom Hardy gives playing both of the gangster twins.

Charismatic Hardy is at his very best as the suave sophisticated playboy Reggie in his sleek shiny suits as he oozes charm as he keeps a tight grip on all the 'firms' activities. It's he that wants to create and nurture some legitimate enterprises such as nightclubs and casinos as a cover for all their criminal activities that make them the underworld kings of the East End. The only thing he can never control is his manic and irrational brother who has a ferocious appetite for seeking grisly murderous revenge on anyone who crosses his path. 'He's completely bonkers' as someone so aptly claimed more than once. Hardy powerfully portrays the heavier Ronnie with all his distinct mannerisms including his tic and his menacing eyes behind his big glasses and he beautifully captures the unintentional humor that spills out of Ronnie's ramblings, but they are a very few flashes when you are aware that Hardy seems to trying just a tad too hard to distinguish him from sane Reggie.

Whatever the minor niggles are, this award-winning performance quite rightly confirms Hardy as one of the most important actors of his generation, and the perfect candidate to fill the soon-to-be-vacated shoes of 007. Although the supporting roles were not major parts they were crucial to the story and were filled by a remarkably talented British cast that included Christopher Eccleston, David Thewlis, Tara Fitzgerald, Taron Egerton, Paul Bettany, Kevin McNally rounded out by veteran actress Jane Wood as the mother. An unrecognizable Duffy played the nightclub singer Timi Yuro too.

The production designer Tom Conroy got the most of many of the East London locations that are still relatively untouched which really added to the frisson of the movie.  So too did the soundtrack by Carter Burwell who seems to be the composer to go to right now for period pieces as he also wrote the score for Todd Hayne's Carol.

There is no real attempt to try and explain why the Twins had turned to crime in the first place and why they were so fixated in ruling their turf, and in fact there were other well-known parts of the story such as their close relationship with their mother, which was pushed to the periphery in this take on the story. However what Hegleand did do very successfully was ensure that this somewhat sympathetic look at two of Britain's most notorious criminals of the last century didn't dent our affection for them in the least.  Or for Mr Hardy too.

Destined to become a new British classic, it is a unmissable delightful piece of nostalgia, even if you do have to shield your eyes from some of the bloody violence at times. 

★★★★★★★★★

Janis : Little Girl Blue

It took filmmaker Amy Berg almost 8 years to bring her very stunning and definitive documentary portrait of the blues singer Janis Joplin to the screen, and it was well worth the wait.  With the full co-operation of the late singers estate, her family and friends, and several of the musicians that she played with, Berg has pieced together a very comprehensive picture of the somewhat troubled young lady who was described at one point as fluctuating being like a little girl lost or as strong as a mountain lion. 

As an outspoken schoolgirl, her very liberal views in her conservative hometown of Port Arthur in Texas,  made her very unpopular with her class mates.  Her brother fondly remembered that Joplin loved to rock the boat as often as she could,  which not only got her thrown out of the school choir, but some of the frat boys who disliked her very cruelly got her voted as 'most ugly man'.  So it was no surprise that she hot-footed it out of town and landed in San Francisco when she was barely 19 years old. Here she discovered and experimented with everything from her sexuality, the blues, and also with heroin which would ultimately prove to be her undoing.

Now involved in a full blown affair with a man who got her hooked on methadone, Joplin got into such a sorry state that her very worried friends intervened and bought a ticket back to Texas to get herself sorted out.  It looked for a time that this may work as she got sober and even introduced the addict boyfriend to her parents , who acting in an old-fashioned manner he asked them if he could marry Janis. Turns out that he already had a pregnant girlfriend at home, so with the realization that she wasn't going to get married, Janis decided for once all music was too be her life, and so she trooped back to San Fransisco to join a band.

They were called the Holding Company and with Joplin fronting them they were moderately successful until they played the new Monterrey Pop Festival.  They were the smash hits of the show and overnight Joplin really started to become famous. All the reviews said that whilst she had the makings of being a very big star, her band were a big let-down, and so they soon parted company, and Joplin went solo.

The film details how much Joplin wanted all the celebrity of fame and how much she came alive whilst performing on stage, yet when the show was over she relied heavily on her fixes of heroin to be able to cope with life out of the spotlight.  However what was surprising was her close bond with her family, and her constant need for their approval.  Berg included a treasure trove of letters (read by singer Cat Power) that she regularly wrote to her parents in which she was constantly assuring them she was not only successful but happy too, as she obviously believed she was when she put pen to paper.   In fact, both her younger siblings who were interviewed spoke very warmly of their sister who they were obviously close too and very proud off.

Some of the members of her own band that she formed to tour the world performing spoke of the fact that Joplin always felt everyone else's pain, and they believed that in itself was the main reason that she used heroin. Others spoke of her desire to want the pain of being a real blues singer which contributed to her addictions.  Yet asides from all this excess, what stands out most in this very moving story, is the sheer electricity of her singing and performing live which reminds you of what an extraordinary and talented musician she was.  There is some unique footage of Joplin not just performing in large stadiums, but also actually recording new tracks in the studio which are a sheer joy to watch.

Joplin's legacy is the fact that Pearl her most successful album was released three months after her her death in October 1970 at the tender age of 27 years old.  It seems somehow fitting that this documentary comes out the same year as Asif Kapadia's film on Amy Winehouse, as the British singer was obviously very influenced by Joplin on so many levels.  Both of them had their brilliant careers curtailed when they were both at their peaks, and are still, all these years later, such a sad loss to the world.

★★★★★★★★

The Night Before

When boys eventually grow up into being men it means amongst other things that they have to stop believing in Father Christmas and take a more mature attitude to the whole holiday season. However these best friends from their long gone school days are still hanging on to their immature past for one last time to insanely celebrate the Christmas Eve the exact same way they have down for the past decade. The tradition started when Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) lost his parents in a car accident and so Isaac (Seth Rogan) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) took it upon themselves to be his family.  Life has moved on for Isaac who is now married and about to be a father for the first time, and Chris is a professional footballer who has recently become a very famous celebrity (helped by his new found love of steroids), but Ethan is still stuck in a rut as he still doesn't have a steady job, and his girlfriend Diana (Lizzy Caplan) broke up with him because of his fear of commitment.

He's not the only one who is afraid, as Isaac's wife Betsy (Jillian Bell) is scared rigid about becoming a mother for the first time and as a way of rewarding her husband for being a tower of strength during her pregnancy, she hands him a stash of recreational drugs as a gift for his one last night out with the boys. So the three men set off for their insane hedonistic night, dressed in their traditional tasteless Xmas sweaters .....Isaac's boasts a very large Star of David on the front .....to do all the customary activities such as going to Rockefeller Center's Tree, singing "Christmas in Hollis" in karaoke bar, eating Chinese food etc.  This year will be different as Ethan has managed to get his hands on tickets to the Nutcracker Ball, a party that is so exclusive that no-one is even told of it's exact location until the very last moment.

Isaac is really unsure exactly what drugs are packed in his box so he just pops them in his mouth like Aspirins and when he starts freaking out, he just keeps taking more different ones in the desperate hope they may counterbalance his now drug fueled haze. He is not the only one dealing with issues that night as Chris is trying to score some pot from their old school teacher Mr Green (an unrecognizable Michael Shannon) just to impress his more important team mates, and Ethan bumps into Diana his ex, and realizes he was a fool to let her go. 

What follows is crazy mayhem in this hilarious comic farce which revels in this three big boys behaving badly. Seth Rogan essentially takes playing Seth Rogan up another notch in one of his more extreme performances to date.  He is side-splitting funny for nearly most of the time, although there is the occasional miss-fire such as when Isaac nose-drips cocaine blood into a someone's drink, which was too gross for words.  There is also the rather questionable sequence which falls totally flat when he is in possession of the wrong phone and receives text pictures of a penis from a man called 'James' who is played clothed by Rogan's buddy James Franco.

Ethan as played by Gordon-Leavitt is the romantic of the group that will always make the woman swoon, and he is perfect in that part. Asides from proving that he is quite a mean singer, he has a neat scene with Miley Cyrus (playing herself) who helps him attempting a reconciliation with Diane, which as this is a Christmas movie, we know will have to work out. Gordon-Leavitt's naivete is refreshing and he certainly adds a level of depth to the role, as does Mackie as Chris, which ensures that the whole affair just doesn't denigrate into one big silly mess.  However the scene stealer of the night has to be Michael Shannon as the most sensible stoned pot-head ever, and he is a sheer delight to watch.

The Night Before is an odd-ball off-kilter bad-ass comedy that is far from the usual Christmas fare, and for that alone is worth a view.  It does at least however keep to one including traditional element by making sure that everyone gets to be all warm and fuzzy by the end, and live happily ever after.

Suffragette

Suffragette is a new historical drama that makes Hollywood history itself as it is movie about women, made by woman and starring women. Well technically this movie not is actually Hollywood as it is  British with one notable exception, and was even financed by British and French money too.  But in light of all the recent discussions about the lack of real visibility of women filmmakers, this is a very welcome addition to our movie screens. 

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the literal meaning of suffrage is the right to vote in political elections, but it's very clear from this new movie that is based on part of the struggle of the British Suffragettes at the beginning of the 20th Century, it went far beyond just voting and was about the inequality of women in general and how they had such few legal rights, even over their own children.

Most of the suffragettes were women from upper and middle-class backgrounds, but this is the fictionalized story of one uneducated young working class wife and mother called Maud Watts who got unexpectedly swept up into fighting for a cause that she hadn't even given a moments thought about, until one evening in London's West End when she witnessed some militant women causing a fracas. 

One of them turned out to Violet who had just started working in the same laundry as Maud in the East End. Maud's curiosity in Violet's activities grows slowly, but before very long she finds herself drawn into being a part of them, much to the annoyance of her mild-mannered husband and a tyrant of an employer. Her presence at some of the Suffragette meetings attracts the attention of the Police, who are under pressure from the Government to put an end to their activities, and so they lean on her to become an informer.  However, the more pressure that is placed on Maud to revert back to being a silent obedient wife, re-enforces her newly found conviction that she should keep being involved, even it means being imprisoned.

The movie starts off slowly and may not be the easiest to follow at first because of some very strong cockney accents, but it really takes off when the women are peacefully protesting outside Parliament and are then on the receiving end of some rather vicious police brutality. The Police completely get away with this and even step up their violent treatment of  the women, as in this very patriarchal society where most of the newspapers are owned by members of the English Aristocracy, it is very easy for the government to ensure that there is no media coverage of the Suffragettes at all.

The personal price that the women pay is very high indeed, particularly for young Maud who loses everything, although even that is not quite as bad as another of the Suffragettes who makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to bring their case to the attention of the King and the country at large.

Directed by a relatively unknown Sarah Gavron (this is her second feature film) and written by Emmy Award Winner Abi Morgan who also did the screenplays for "Shame" and "The Iron Lady", it has the benefits of a really excellent cast.  Oscar Nominee Carey Mulligan shines as she always does, as Maud as she turns from being meek and subservient to being quite fiercely determined in front of our very eyes ; Double Oscar Nominee Helena Bonham Carter gives one of the most beautifully restrained performances of her career as Edith the chemist turned militant terrorist (based on an actual Suffragette); Anne-Marie Duff, who we still remember fondly as John Lennon's mother in "Nowhere Boy", was excellent as the mouthy brave Violet, and the only mis-fire was the very very brief appearance of the movie's only non-Brit Meryl Streep, who looked as uncomfortable playing the legendary Mrs Pankhurst as we did watching her.

The men in the pictures naturally played secondary roles, but did them superbly, particularly Ben Whishaw as Maud's mild mannered husband who couldn't cope with being a single parent, and Brendan Gleason as the aggressive Police Detective who started to regret the heavy hand the Government expected him to play. Plus credit too for Alice Normington the production designer who along with the cinematographer Eduard Grau made full use of shooting some of the movie in the glorious parts of London that are still relatively untouched since those days.

One of the most moving parts of this thought provoking drama comes at the end as the final credits roll.  It took another 5 years and the end of WW1 for the British Government to eventually pass a Law giving women in Britain over the age of 30, meeting certain property qualifications, the right to Vote.  And another 10 years after that until they lowered the age limit to 21 years old. However it wasn't until 1925 that mothers were finally given any legal rights over their own children which up until then had been the sole jurisdiction of fathers.  A very sobering thought.

★★★★★★★★

Harold and Lillian : A Hollywood Love Story

The real-life story of Hollywood back-room couple Harold and Lillian Michelson is the sort of stuff that movies used to be made of. It's a good old-fashioned true romance made more appealing by the fact that there were such a couple of really such likable people. They were both happy enough being together and just quietly slaving away practising their art and without any real credit helping some very famous directors make better motion pictures. Now their story is very affectionately told  by Academy-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim in this low-budget documentary that aims to tug at the heart strings of every cinephile, and particularly romantic ones.

The couple met in Florida after WW2 and Harold got it into his head that life would be better for them in California, so he hopped on a train across countryside to set things in motion.  When Lilian joined him soon afterwards, the young couple were still like total strangers to each other.  He got a job as an apprentice in a Hollywood movie studio and  very gradually worked his way up to being a storyboard artist in which he found his true milieu. Harold's particular skill was that he knew what should be in each exact frame depending on the lens which some directors began to use as an actual blueprint for the movie they were shooting.  So much so that people like Hitchcock, who really respected Harold's input, had him on the set of his movies "The Birds" and "Marnie", and looking at both the storyboards and the finished movie, it is very obvious to see Harold's very significant contribution. Although he never was officially credited for any of this, he was even responsible for designing what are now regarded as some iconic movie scenes such as the view of Dustin Hoffman through Anne Bancroft's legs in "The Graduate". 

Lilian stayed at home raising their three young sons ..... one of whom was autistic..... but the moment they were school age, she set about finding herself a job.  First as a volunteer at a film research library which years later she would end up running, then actually owning too.  Her forte was painstakingly researching all the minute detail for period movies in particular whether it be the girls underwear worn in "Fiddler on The Roof" or trotting off to Colombia to check out how drug barons lived for "Scarface" (Harold actually put his foot down on the later). Like her husband, who she now co-operated with doing his research for Hitchcock's movies, Lillian made herself completely indispensable as she got to ensure that the designs of all the major movies she worked on, were completely accurate.

Raim includes interviews with several filmmaking heavyweights such as Mel Brooks, Danny DeVito and Francis Ford Coppola who enthusiastically sing the praises of not just how popular both Michelsons were, but they readily acknowledge their significant contributions to the movies. In fact Coppola eventually provided a home for Lillian's library at one point. Raim fills this in with contributions from friends and also with actors reading the couples own love letters.  

Most important however is the presence of Lillian herself, now a very spry 86 year old resident of a Motion Pictures Assisted Living Home , but having lost none of infectious zest for life.   She is frank and funny and although passionate about her work, and that of Harold's too,  it seems that she may not always want to acknowledge how it significantly shaped the movies themselves. When she talks of Harold (who died in 2008) she becomes even more animated and it is so wonderfully clear that even through the rough patches their relationship went through that she openly discusses, this was a marriage made in heaven.  As happy as she was  that Harold finally got his just deserts professionally and finally became the Production Designer on movies such as "Star Trek", Lillian was much more proud of the more important fact, that for over sixty years, he had been her husband. 


★★★★★★★★

By The Sea

There were such high expectations after Angelina Jolie's second time behind the camera directing the Oscar nominated "Unbroken" from a script by the Coen brothers but sadly she has followed this up with a real dud.  Pretty to look at, but painfully slow to sit though its seemingly interminable 132 minutes.  This time out Ms Jolie ... or as she now wishes to be known Ms Jolie Pitt ...was the writer, director and star, which were simply two roles too many. It takes a very unique and exceptionally talented actor to successfully be able to direct oneself, and sadly Jolie Pitt has proved she is certainly not one of them.

The rather magnificent setting is an old grand hotel perched on a cliff overlooking a small village on the island of Gozo off Malta in the mid 1970's, and where we first see  Roland (Brad Pitt) and his overdressed chic wife Vanessa (Angelina Brad Pitt) in their perfect convertible racing too it through bendy country roads. When Vanessa steps out of the car into this idyllic picturesque spot, she turns her nose up and disdainfully blurts out "It smells like fish!" This turns out to the least of her worries as once she is ensconced in their hotel suite, she rarely ventures out all day, whilst Roland a novelist, spends his whole day in the village bar trying to get over his writers block.

Whilst her husband seeks solace in copious amounts of drink, Vanessa resorts to pill-popping and sitting on their balcony reading Vogue all day long. They have reached this arrangement about how they spend their days totally apart because of something obviously quite terrible in their past which they always allude too, but never talk about.  Their moods alternate between sullen and sulky to downright melancholic as both of them are obviously deeply unhappy, and it really is hard to fathom out if this, their fourteenth year married, will be their last one together.  He falls in bed drunk every night whilst she sits there in her expensive lingerie just pouting like an irritated ice Queen

Then one day a young French couple on honeymoon turn up to stay in the hotel in which Vanessa and Roland seemed to have been the only guests in so far.  Lea (Melanie Laurent) and Francois (Melvil Poupaud) cannot keep their hands off each other, which is obvious from all the noise drifting through their bedroom walls. When Vanessa discovers a hole in the wall she starts spying on the couple making love, and when Roland catches her at it, he joins in and the two very creepily become voyeurs.  It actually becomes one activity they do together and it finally leads to them to start making out at last.

By the time of the big 'reveal' as to why Vanessa in particular has been behaving badly in such a way that could jeopardise Lea and Francois's relationship as well as her own,  it is all such a let-down it seems somewhat inconceivable that it took so long to reach such a cliched reason.   Jolie Pitt has paid such excellent attention to the finite detail of the look of the movie from the set itself to her rather extensive period wardrobe, but sadly simply lacked any of that same close scrutiny to more important aspects such as the script itself.

Whilst both Pitts are both awkward and uncomfortable in their roles, credit where it is due and in this case asides from the location, it goes to the fine supporting cast of talented French actors that included the ever wonderful Niels Arestrup, Mélanie Laurent and Melvil Poupaud.

The last (and first time) that Mr and Mrs Brad Pitt starred in a movie together was ten years ago in the highly successful comedy action movie "Mr. & Mrs Smith".  On that time they also played a bored married couple, but they were also both assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other.  This time it almost seemed like they might just simply bore themselves to death.

★★★

Very Semi-Serious

After watching Leah Wolchok's fascinating look behind the scenes of The New Yorker's celebrated Cartoon Department and having this mini crash course into its workings, it makes you have a great deal of respect to all the rather eccentric men (and a few women) whose lives are solely all about getting their 'funnies' published  in this prestigious journal. Every Tuesday Robert Mankoff the Cartoon Editor holds an 'open call' for any artist and aspiring cartoonist to turn up and show him their work. And they do in droves from old-timers like George Booth who sold his first cartoon to the magazine in the 1960's,  to very nervous newcomers such as Liana Finck. who professes that she may have Aspergers which would account for her own quirky take on life that end up in her work.

Mankoff, himself a successful cartoonist, is polite but brusque as he speeds through their submissions at a seemingly indecent pace lashing out his critiques or outright dismissals as they sit watching him. Veteran contributors are well used to this and will occasionally pitch in with their own comments in the hope of changing Mankoff's mind, but the newbies sit there somewhat dazed and try and take on board his opinions. To be fair to Mankoff he tries to not only ensure that he just doesn't give a good crack of the whip to his regulars, but he purposely strives to encourage up and coming new talent as well. One of these is Ed Steed a painfully shy ex-shepherd who had never even heard of The New Yorker until he was backpacking through Vietnam, but who has very quickly become one the magazine's most unlikely new stars.

The final word about what cartoons actually get bought and published lies with editor-in-chief David Remnick whose personal mandate is to encourage both young and diversified talent.  Whilst they are making great strides on the former, we could see in the film that asides from the few women, the rest are old white men. 

When Wolchok profiles some of the more prominent cartoonists we learn that in the past it was actually possible to make a comfortable living doing this.  Now as all the magazines that once employed them have either closed, or just simply stopped including cartoons, the New Yorker has become even more important to them. So much so that they are prepared to accept that it may take years to even break through and sell their first one.  Many of today's cartoonist also have a serious day job such as copywriter, furniture mover and even TV sitcom writer, reinforcing the idea that now it is much more of a passionate pursuit.

Mankoff himself is a complex character and Wolchok shows him not just in his role as professional arbiter, but also at home with his family who are still grieving from the recent death of their son. There is an added layer of poignancy too near the end of the movie as The New Yorker moves to its new home at One World Trade Center at the very same time as Paris is still reeling from the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

We never really quite learn the criteria as to why one really funny makes the 'out' tray whilst a very similar one gets published.  What we do learn however, and really appreciate,  that every one is the result of a combination of a remarkable talent and single-minded determination to make us laugh.  Seeing the journey it must take to be succeed is captivating and will make you want to read The New Yorker  with so much more respect henceforth.

★★★★★★★★

Carol

For his 6th feature film  queer filmmaker Todd Haynes returns to the 1950's and re-visits the theme of repressed sexuality that he captured so brilliantly in his Oscar nominated "Far From Heaven" in 2002.  Last time he worked from his own script, but this time around British/American playwright Phyllis Nagy has adapted Patricia Highsmith's controversial novel "The Price of Salt" that had been original published in 1952 under a nom-de-plume because of it's 'scandalous' lesbian content.

Highsmith based the story on her own life and had in fact been working as a Sales Clerk in the Toy Department of a large New York Store exactly like Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara).  In the movie Therese, a rather quiet 'loner', is feeling less than festive even though she has been made to wear her Santa Claus hat as part of the Christmas spirit.  She is distracted one day by the sight of a beautiful elegant socialite who is looking for a Christmas gift for her young daughter. Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) is a vision personified exuding a natural air of confidence in which she radiates, and by the end of their brief encounter Therese is totally smitten with her. As Carol absent-minded leaves her gloves in the store, Therese seizes as an excuse to send them back with a personal note.  

The ruse works and elicits a date for lunch the following week. The moment the two of them sit down in a restaurant, it is clear that they are worlds apart. It isn't just an age gap, as they also come from totally different classes and background, but yet both women are immediately completely at ease in each other's company.  Carol takes the lead as Therese is shy and introverted and clearly a little out of her depth, and the wooing is so subtle that is hard to spot. Luckily however Therese does realize what is going on, and without a moments hesitation, she accepts an invitation to visit Carol in the house in the country at the weekend.  

Carol has explained that she and her husband are going through a divorce at present and then asks Therese if she is serious about her boyfriend Richard (Jake Lacy) "will you like to marry him?"  To which Therese quickly backs "I barely know what to order for lunch". 

It signals that both are free and therefore available to whatever may

develop here,  but before they can even think of where/how that maybe, their quiet Sunday in the country together is interrupted by Carol's husband Harge (Kyle Chandler) unexpectedly showing up. An almighty row ensues when a very jealous Harge realizes that Therese is probably Carol's latest conquest, as from all the accusations flying it is revealed that the reason for the impending divorce is that this is not the first woman Carol has pursued.  He however, has not given up and is still trying to salvage the marriage.


The day ends badly with both women barely talking, but two days later Carol phones Therese to apologize for her behavior and asks if she would like to go on a road trip over the coming Holidays. Alone at last away from the prying eyes of people they know they eventually cement their relationship physically when Therese allows her older suitor to seduce her.  The peace they find is soon shattered when they discover that Harge has paid a detective so spy on.  He is determined that if he cannot have his wife back then he will present evidence to show her 'immoral behavior',  that will persuade the Judge not to allow her any access at all to their child. 

Despite the fact that the socially unacceptable subject matter was considered so repugnant at that time, it is treated here not just sympathetically but actually with more than just reasoned tolerance. Harge's anger with Carol and the fact that Abby (Sarah Poulson) her previous lover now functioned as her best friend and confidente, was much more about his loss than the fact that he had been replaced by a woman.  

Blanchett, in a breathtaking performance that puts all her other roles to date totally in the shade, imbues Carol with a sophisticated nonchalance and sheer confidence that only ever slips when it's something to do with her child that she loves more than life itself, particularly whenever faced with the real possibility she may actually lose her. Her final glance at Therese before the credits roll alone is worth an Oscar! She fits the role as perfect as she does the stunning wardrobe that designer Sandy Powell has provided (and for a possible 4th Best Costume Oscar too). 

When the movie premiered at Cannes Film Festival the jury was divided over the Best Actress Award which in the end went to Mara for her exquisite performance as the introverted shopgirl who finds her feet when she finds Carol.  It was a worthy win, but nevertheless this movie is very much Carol's : the story is told from her perspective, and with such a sublime inspired layered performance from Blanchett,  she will quite rightly have the edge when this movie starts collecting the many awards it is destined to win.

It is a phenomenal faultless movie from Haynes impassioned direction to the cinematographer Edward Lachman's intriguing photography that often showed one of the people in a conversation, and not forgetting Carter Burwell's powerful soundtrack.  It is very rare to see a movie with such great anticipation and end up realizing that it actually far exceeded all our high expectations. Carol is one such movie, and so deserves to be seen much more than just a mere once. 

★★★★★★★★★★

Steve Jobs

There is nothing remotely conventional about the enthralling biopic that director Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire")  and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (" The Social Network") have made about Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) the iconic visionary with a major messiah complex.  Rather than try and pack in the man's entire rather manic life in two short hours they focus instead on just the core when Jobs is dealing with three large-scale crucial product launches : first the Mackintosh, then the NExT computer and finally the iMac.  It seems that on every single occasion, Jobs was always in crisis overload with so many potential catastrophes about to explode in his face literally minutes before he was to go on stage and unveil his latest baby to a very eager world.

The movie starts in 1984 and in an almost farce like atmosphere as Jobs is micro-managing everything single detail about the impending launch, and his unbridled temper showed no mercy when everything was not going exactly as he wanted.  When the Mackintosh was refusing to cooperate and just say 'hello', Jobs went for the jugular of systems engineer Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlberg) and threatened to ruin him if he failed to make it work. His violently bad mood had started earlier when Time Magazine had failed to put him on their front cover as he claimed that had promised, and on top of that his ex-girlfriend Chrisann (Katherine Waterson) turns up demanding that he finally acknowledge his daughter, and she lectures him about them being on welfare whilst he is worth $441 million.

Add to the mix there is Steve "Woz" Wozniak (Seth Rogan) the engineer who had co-founded Apple with Jobs and who is now disgruntled that he is grabbing all the limelight and he unsuccessfully tries to persuade Jobs to at least acknowledge the other engineers and workers who have contributed to their success to date. Plus John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) who at Job's own behest had become Apple's new CEO and although he had been the sole supporter of Job's commissioning Ridley Scott to produce a television advert for the new Mackintosh to be played during the Super-Bowl at an unheard cost of $1.5 million, he unsuccessfully tried to get Jobs to curb expectations of his ambitions for the new product.

So too did Joanna Huffman (Kate Winslet) his ever faithful and much-put-upon personal assistant and only real friend, who begged Jobs to be face up to the reality and acknowledge both the dangerously speculative sales estimates, and also the fact that Lisa really is his daughter.

The action then jumps to 1988 and Job's launch of the NeXT computer in a Symphony Hall in San Francisco.  After the limited success of Mackintosh there had been a power struggle between Jobs and Sculley that had resulted in Jobs being forced out of Apple and buying NeXT. Jobs even privately admits that the specialist very expensive computer he is about to introduce to an invited audience will not work that well, but it has a system that the now struggling Apple Company need and by 1997  they buy both NeXT and its technology and Jobs is back running Apple.

In the meantime he has not only acknowledged Lisa as his daughter but he is now an integral part of her life. She is all grown up and about to go to Harvard by the time we get to the next launch ceremony which with the Internet about to explode is the most important for Job's to date. He is still however fighting with everyone and refusing to accept that he can ever be wrong about anything, including supporting Lisa .  Despite the fact the iMac will clearly be successful, Jobs is as ruthless and nasty as ever and will not concede an iota to Wozniak who is still looking for some public acknowledgement even when he pleads "you can be decent and gifted at the same time".  As a generalization Wozniak maybe right, but in the case of this particular genius, he would never ever behave any better.

Inspired loosely on Walter Isaacson's massive biography this no-holds-barred portrait of this impossible megalomaniac who compared himself to the likes of Stravinsky and Caesar is undoubtedly the best of the many movie versions we will see of Jobs. Damaged by the fact that he had been adopted as a child, he carried a big chip on his shoulder for most of his life which is implied accounted for the fact that he was so unreasonable. Fascinating too that he insisted that his high aesthetic taste be an integral part of every product even when in several cases, like the NExT black cube, made them outrageously expensive. Fassbender's powerful portrayal of Jobs which he kept motoring along with such passion and blinkered determination was hard to keep up with, especially for Kate Winslet as Huffman who did her best to do damage control between Jobs and most of the people who foolishly tried to talk reason with him.

Job's legacy is still making its mark on all us from all the incredibly innovative products that he launched into the world, and now we know a little of the real cost of how they got there.

★★★★★★★★★