Films I Saw In May

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (Sydney Lumet, 2007)

The most recent film from the legendary Lumet, now in his sixth decade as a director as an admirable, character based drama themed around a heist gone wrong. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke are both excellent as two brothers who conspire to rob their parents jewelery shop that backfires when their mother is shot. The advertising for this film was somewhat misleading, promoting it as a slick crime caper, and although the style is slick with a non-linear narrative, the film is deliberately paced and actually rather pathos-driven. Has great performances from all though, Hawke in particular delivers one of his best ever and Albert Finney is excellent as always as their father. Quite tough going, but worth it.


4.3.2.1 (Noel Clarke, 2010)
The latest film from actor/director Clarke is your standard multi-character/heist/things go wrong crime drama involving four girls who get caught up in a jewel heist over the course of a weekend in London and New York. Split into four interlocking stories a la 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Go' the first segment with Ophelia Lovibond (the underagte model from Nathan Barley) is by far the weakest, but it does pick up as it goes on and the latter two sequences with Shanika Warren-Marland and Emma (niece of Julia) Roberts are an improvement. Still, the whole thing is totally unbelievable and at times seems to tap into Noel Clarke's own fantasy ideas about women (he even casts himself as a character who Roberts proclaims to be "sexy"). At times, the film could do with a lot less 'directing' and a few more original ideas, but it is perfectly watchable...just not very good.


Margot At The Wedding (Noah Baumbach, 2007)
Baumbach's follow up to the brilliant 'Squid & The Whale' is another family oriented tragi-comedy played to a indie soundtrack. But where that film was a superb examination of family dynamics, 'Margot At The Wedding' is filled with some of the most contemptible characters of recent years. Nicole Kidman continues her 'box office poison' phase as a neurotic, self-obsessed writer who meets with her annoying sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and her bum fiance (Jack Black) for a disastrous weekend. The film is neither funny, nor insightful; it aspires to Checkov like brilliance, but instead is tedious, plodding and hateful. In fact the only good thing about it was its minus 90 minute running time. Avoid this film like the fucking plague.


The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Neils Arden Oplev, 2009)
Admittedly, I am slightly biased when reviewing this, as I read the books quite recently, but overall this is a well cast but somewhat rushed adaptation of Steig Larsson's posthumous best seller. Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist are perfect as goth computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and crusading journalist Mikeal Blomkvist, a mis-matched duo investigating the long ago disappearance of a tycoon's niece and their performances are the main assets of the picture. It's well directed and staged, and overall it is fairly faithful, but to someone who hasn't read the books, the plot seems to be rushed through at almost breakneck speed and I'd imagine it would seem confusing or have holes, where the book moves along at a more thoughtful pace. Again, I'm prejudiced but despite the fine acting and directing I was a little underwhelmed by this.


The Missouri Breaks (Arthur Penn, 1976)
Despite its poor reputation, I've been meaning to see this film for a while, mainly because it features two of my favourite actors: Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando. A failure critically and commercially upon its release, this is an offbeat western with Nicholson underplaying his role as a horse rustler who moves in on the land and daughter of a local baron who hires the psychopathic Brando to take him and his gang down. The scenes where Nicholson philosophises with Brando or Harry Dean Stanton are all worth savoring, and the film looks beautiful, it just feels somewhat muddled. The film's either greatest asset or most fatal blunder though is Marlon Brando's performance. He is completely out of control, switching between his normal voice and an unconvincing Irish brogue seemingly at random, all the while decked out in an escalating, bizarre series of costumes and man-dresses. His performance is completely over the top and out of control; I can't think of anything else like it and for better or worse, his performance is the reason to see this film.


The King Of Marvin Gardens (Bob Rafelson, 1972)
Another Jack Nicholson film, this time a dark, again offbeat family drama and follow up to his previous collaboration (Five Easy Pieces) with Rafelson. Again, Nicholson delivers a somewhat atypical performance as a melancholic talk radio host who gets mixed up with his ne'er-do-well brother (Bruce Dern) in Atlantic City. Nicholson proves he doesn't need to go over the top to deliver a fine performance and Dern is superb as is the always excellent Ellen Burstyn as his wife. Still, despite the strong performances, the script lacks direction and seems to have a very 'dead' feeling to it. It also seems to go on for longer than its 103 minutes may suggest.

Film Of The Month: I haven't seen a great deal, but it would have to be Before The Devil Knows You're Dead.