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Monthly movie reviews by DVD Gourmet owner, Marc Steyn.
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| 127 Hours | The secret in their eyes (El secreto de sus ojos) | Bottle Shock | Joan Rivers: A piece of work | Exit through the gift shop |
127 Hours
Director: Danny Boyle
Cast: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn
Have you heard about the man who lost his left arm? Apparently he is all right now…
Though it might sound like the set-up for a bad joke, 127 hours proves to be genuinely funny, touching and inspirational. Confirming the old adage that adversity doesn’t build character as much as it reveals character, the movie also exposes the human mind’s peculiar habit of only truly appreciating the beauty of life when confronted with painful loss.
Based on a true story, we follow 27-year old Aron Ralston as he explores the Utah canyons. A lifelong loner, our intrepid adventurer breaks one of the cardinal rules of mountaineering by going it alone. This proves disastrous as he falls down a ravine and traps his one arm beneath a dislodged boulder. Hundreds of miles from civilization, and with not a soul in sight, his position looks grim.
Over the next few days, a trapped Ralston reflects on his life and slowly comes to an inevitable conclusion about his current predicament. Then his free hand reaches for a small pocket knife....
With his ingenious use of flashbacks, director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) manages to keep things interesting despite a Titannic-esque plot (we know how it ends), while James Franco delivers a tour de force as a man dying in a ravine (as opposed to his portrayal earlier this year of an Oscar host dying on stage). The infamous amputation moment is one of the most graphic scenes ever captured on celluloid, but in the end, the real punch to the solar plexus is purely emotional.
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The secret in their eyes
(El secreto de sus ojos)
Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Cast: Ricardo Darin, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago
Academy award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2010
Its 1999 and retired Argentinian federal justice agent Benjamín Espósito is writing a novel based on a closed case from 1974, the brutal rape and murder of a young married woman. His research leads him back into time, forcing him to revisit old friendships, enmities and unrequited love. Set against the backdrop of a turbulent time in Argentina's history, the film touches on institutionalised corruption, the flawed humanity of those responsible for administrating justice and the essence of justice itself, underscoring a plot that twists and turns through present and past in a gripping fashion.
Excellent cinematography and great acting by the leads and supporting cast alike, lend credibility and fluidity to the flashback narrative.
A complex and layered thriller, this Argentine film blends tragedy, love, violence and humour into a cinematic masterpiece hailed by critics and the public alike.
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Bottle Shock
Director: Randall Miller
Cast: Bill Pullman, Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, Dennis Farina
Struggling winemakers in '70s Napa valley, a hippy son of a winemaker, a sexy wine making assistant, a snobbish British sommelier and a wannabe wine connoisseur, who looks like he drifted off the Sopranos set. You will be forgiven if you start thinking this is the plot line for Sideways, the prequel. Its not, but it is quirky, charming and sometimes downright funny.
Telling the story of the early days of California wine making , Bottle Shock follows Alan Rickman's Paris based sommelier as he travels to the Napa valley in search of quality wine, albeit in a sceptical frame of mind. To his surprise he finds plenty of excellent wine and proceeds to organise the now infamous, blind Paris wine tasting of 1976 that has come to be known as the "Judgement of Paris".
With plenty of witty banter, this is a little gem of a movie for those with any interest in wine, be it quaffing or serious. As Dennis Farina's goomba wine connoisseur says: 'It's oaky... Oh, yeah, and smoky. I detect... bacon fat... laced with honey melon'.
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Documentaries:
Joan Rivers: A piece of work
This documentary follows one year in the life of Joan Rivers, who sees herself first and foremost as an actress, with her life as a comedienne/writer just an extension of being an actress. Now at age 75, Rivers has faced her ups and downs in her forty plus year career, the year leading up to filming being a down compared to what she would have wanted, which is a calendar full of engagements with several engagements each day. That want is in part to support her opulent personal lifestyle, but is more a need to bolster her own sense of self-worth as a basically insecure person who is probably best known now for her overuse of cosmetic surgery rather than her professional work.
Exit through the gift shop
The story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work. An insightful look at contemporary street art.
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| The King's speech | The maid (La nana) | 180 degrees South: conquerors of the useless | After the wedding |
The King's speech
Director: Tom Hooper
Cast: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter
'Never go full retard.’
Given his character’s speech impediment but otherwise sound faculties, this advice from Robert Downey Jnr’s character in Tropic Thunder should turn into Oscar gold for Colin Firth come February 27. The traditional Academy bait of period drama and royals should also ensure that The King’s Speech receive plenty of silverware. Pity the Emperor is only partly clothed.
To be fair, Firth’s performance is pretty good. It also helps that he is pitted against thespian heavyweights Geoffrey Rush (Oscar winner in Shine) and Helena Bonham Carter. Seen in isolation, the story of King George VI’s (better known as the late father of Lizzie 2) struggle with a lifelong stutter is interesting and even inspirational. In an era where leaders were increasingly required to use the newly invented radio as communication platform, his handicap was both painful and very public. Physicians who advised heavy smoking as cure (‘it relaxes the throat’) didn’t help, and eventually caused his death from lung cancer at age 56.
Before his premature demise though, an unlikely hero with unorthodox methods (let’s face it, asking an Australian for elocution lessons is like receiving marital advice from the Pope) would help the King provide a reassuring voice to the people of Britain during their darkest hour. As a result a deep bond formed between the two men and, whether it’s solely a product of the script’s poetic license or not, I would like to think that, when asked how he could ever be thanked, the cheeky speech therapist really did pip, ‘I guess a knighthood might do the trick.’
My only criticism of the movie concerns the screenplay’s narcissistic focus on its protagonist at the expense of the dramatic historic context. Even if you ignore the anti-monarchist argument that George VI’s predicament stemmed in the first place from being unsuitable for an unelected and inherited title (in the same way that an impromptu request to perform open heart surgery would probably unnerve Chris Barnard’s nightclub owning son), there is also the shadow of the Great Depression and World War II looming large, which is only superficially alluded to. As a Humphrey Bogart character from a more self-aware movie set in roughly the same time period remarked, ‘the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.’
If this movie had shown the same insight, it could have been a masterpiece.
The maid (La nana)
Director: Sebastian Silva
Cast: Catalina Saavedra, Claudia Celedon, Alejandro Goic
Raquel has been working as a live-in maid for more than 20 years in the household of an affluent Chilean family. She saw the kids grow up in front of her and is party to the family's intimate secrets and their inter-relationship struggles. When the lady of the house decides to bring in another maid to help with the workload, cracks begin to show in Raquel's ability to separate her own identity from that of the family she has served for so many years. Raquel uses passive aggressive (often quite funny) methods to get rid of the first two maids employed to help her. Although the family treats her kindly, there is a definite lack of empathy for the emotional isolation within which Raquel finds herself. By the time a third candidate is employed, Raquel is in danger of losing the very thing that defines her life - the family she works for. Fortunately the caring, life embracing nature of the new maid, Lucy, provides the necessary catalyst for Raquel to slowly rediscover the joy of her own life and identity.
The movie is an insightful study of the interaction within the servant/master social hierarchy, as well as the consequences of mental servitude. It is done with sensitivity and the minimum melodrama, beautifully crafted, honest and with a great performance by Catalina Saavedra who plays Raquel.
Nominated for a Golden Globe and winner of the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance film festival.
180 degrees South: conquerors of the useless
Director: Chris Malloy
Cast: Yvon Chouinard, Doug Tompkins, Jeff Johnson
If you, like me, love yarns by adventurers about their life defining journeys - think Riaan Manser's 'Around Africa on my bicycle' or any of Johan Bakkes's travel ruminations - then you will love this documentary.
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia. Along the way he gets shipwrecked off Rapa Nui (Easter Island), surfs the longest wave of his life - and prepares himself for a rare ascent of Cerro Corcovado. Jeff's life changes when he meets up in a rainy hut with Chouinard and Tompkins who, once driven purely by a love of climbing and surfing, now value above all the experience of raw nature - and have come to Patagonia to spend their fortunes to protect it.
I enjoyed the footage of '60's by the seat of your pants adventuring alternated with stunningly filmed scenes of the modern day equivalent. Jeff Johnson comes across as a likeable fellow, the type of guy you can picture having a brewski or 2 with after a good surf. Although some may comment that its a bit rich for 2 big time capitalists like Chouinard and Tompkins ( founders of Patagonia and The North Face, respectively) to hold high minded views on the environment, there is a certain irony in the fact that they probably achieved more to protect large tracts of wilderness with their money than any tree hugging hippy ever did. There is a fair amount of personal philosophy sharing throughout, but never in a smug way. In any case, the personal raisons d'etre of the main characters makes for an authentic story line.
So if you are contemplating chucking in the 9 - 5 drudgery, watch this and head for the great, wild open spaces............
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