A Prophet

Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Tahir Rahim, Niels Arestrup & Adel Bencherif

A very impressive crime/prison drama, wide in scope, well acted, filled with tension and gripping throughout its near three hour running time. A crime classic in the making.

Having delved in to the world and crime before, with his previous film The Beat That Skipped My Heart Skipped being particularly impressive, Jacques Audiard’s latest film is his most ambitious film to date and already worthy of being compared favourably to crime classics. With a gripping and assured performance from newcomer Tahir Rahim, Audiard crafts the rise to power of an uneducated Arab boy in prison through the ranks of the Corsican and Islamic hierarchy.

Malik (Rahim) is an uneducated, Arab teenager sentenced to six years in prison for an attack upon a police officer. Alone and afraid, he is picked upon by the prison’s Corsican boss Cesar (Arestrup) to kill a witness in custody at the prison or face being killed if he fails or refuses. Forced into the act, Malik then falls under the protection of Cesar who, despite verbally and abusing his over his ethnicity, comes to rely upon Malik more and more to perform tasks for him in and out (on leave days) to further Cesar’s criminal career within and beyond the walls of the prison. As the years pass by, as he grows more experienced and educated, Malik finds his importance and influence growing and begins to develop criminal enterprises of his own, independent of Cesar.

A Prophet is a gripping drama throughout its near three hour running time. Carefully building up the growth of Malik within the walls of the prison yet never so slowly that the pacing suffers; Audiard manages a delicate and engaging tale of survival and of coming of age. While Malik arrives in the prison, seemingly innocent, his naivety at odds with the violent crime hinted at that caused him to be imprisoned, he his swiftly set upon by a group of Corsicans who use his vulnerability to pressure him into committing a murder or face death himself. This leads to one of many tense scenes littered throughout the film as Malik confronts various dangers and comes through frequently shaken but stronger, this one in particular requiring him to carry a blade in his mouth with which he must be able to produce to kill a witness. A moment where we witness Malik attempting to manoeuvre the blade in his mouth causing him to spit up blood is filled with tension. This opening act of violence also serves to plague Malik throughout the rest of the film with the ghost of the man killed appearing to haunt him and act as the voice telling him what he must do to survive. Malik’s relationship with that of Cesar, the senior Corsican who takes him under his wing despite Malik’s Arab background (Malik’s faith and loyalties to which is also a theme throughout as, while adopted by the Corsicans, he is shunned by the prison’s Muslim community). As Malik sees his importance and influence within the prison rise, it is Cesar who sees his own decrease as, once other Corsicans are transferred out, Cesar finds Malik the only one whom he can still threaten and order until even that power fades.

The performances in A Prophet aid the characters greatly. Tahir Rahim, a relative newcomer, impresses in his first leading role and one that requires much of him. Fortunately Rahim’s inexperience does him favours as his portrayal of Malik reveals Malik as the frightened boy he starts out to be yet maintains much of that fear even as Malik’s power grows, fears that it could be lost and even as his confidence shows, it is that of a young man sometimes acting more certain than he is. Cesar meanwhile, is portrayed by veteran actor Niels Arestrup who achieves the opposite of Rahim’s role and performance as the initially confident and powerful Cesar who clings to belief he still has the same power on influence and hides fears that it may be gone as he loses his control of the prison and sees his Arab boy rise above him leading to one especially humbling moment near the film’s finale where Cesar seeks Malik’s approval and sympathy.

Despite being a foreign film, subtitled and almost three hours in length, none of this should deter audiences from seeing what is a completely gripping crime/prison drama. A Prophet features very impressive performances, plenty of tension and deserves to be regarded highly amongst the best films of the genre. Excellent.

Rating: 5/5

44 Inch Chest

Director: Malcolm Venville
Starring: Ray Winstone, Tom Wilkinson & Ian McShane

An occasionally gripping gangster film that is filled with sharp, scathing dialogue and strong performances from it’s cast but with not enough actually happening in the plot, the pacing suffers making the film good, but not great.

Adapted from a script by Louis Mellis and David Scinto who also wrote the memorable, and well received Sexy Beast in 2000, 44 Inch Chest compares favourably with Sexy Beast in terms of dialogue and performances from former Sexy Beast cast members Ray Winstone and Ian McShane however, with little action occurring beyond a single room and the hallway outside, 44 Inch Chest feels too much like a stage play which in this case, makes for less than thrilling cinema despite the enjoyment derived from the script and the film’s performances.

Devastated at the news that his wife Liz (Joanne Whalley) has been having an affair and is leaving he, Colin Diamond (Winstone) tries to piece himself back together with the help of his fellow gangster friends. His friends, having found the waiter his wife was seeing behind his back, bring the waiter back to a small room to allow Colin to exact his revenge, but with Colin still reeling from the blows to his manhood that his wife’s actions have taken upon him, finds himself emotionally and psychologically uncertain as to whether he can enact his revenge and reclaim his masculinity.

Playing out like a stage performance with most of the film taking lace within a single room and performed amongst a small cast, 44 Inch Chest both benefits and suffers from it’s theatrical trimmings on the cinema screen. In terms of benefits, the film is well performed throughout with a cast of British acting heavyweights making every line enjoyable. The film, being based in one, small location also allows the film to explore themes of masculinity and its breakdown through the experiences of Colin Diamond, a gangster who has found himself neutered by the actions of his wife. The Samson & Delilah metaphor is ever present with a film version of the story even referred to during the course of the script and as Diamond struggles to come to terms with what he’s lost, his friends who each represent differing representations of masculinity (Wilkinson the tough guy who loves his mum, Hurt the old fashioned sexist, McShane ruthless yet homosexual) challenge and participate in his mental struggle. Unfortunately, as insightful as the script can be, as sharp as the dialogue is and as well performed as the film is, 44 Inch Chest also suffers from pacing problems. Great dialogue is always good but in a film where little occurs beyond talk, the film begins to drag and ultimately little actually happens beyond talk even when it comes to the film’s finale.

44 Inch Chest features an impressive cast and all impress. Winstone finds vulnerabilities to explore in his own gangster image with his performance as Colin whose anguish is believable throughout. John Hurt puts in an amusing performance as a grumpy, mean-spirited Steptoe-type which, at odds with his usual distinguished Englishman, allows Hurt to spit hatred with surprising venom. Ian McShane is charming and frightening in equal measure as the occasionally effeminate, yet believably cold and threatening Meredith who gets to subvert the usual on-screen representation of homo-sexuality, particularly within the gangster genre. Wilkinson puts in a likeable performance as Colin’s tough-talking but caring best friend and Stephen Dillane, the youngest of the main cast, holds his own well amongst his co-stars.

Overall, 44 Inch Chest has great dialogue, great performances from an impressive cast list and it’s exploration into masculinity is frequently engaging but it’s over-reliance on dialogue to drive the story over events means not enough actually happens and the film does drag too often to be wholly enjoyable.

Rating: 3/5

Up in the Air

Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga & Anna Kendrick

A very charming comedy/drama with winning performances by Clooney and Kendrick that makes some savvy comments upon the value of human connections.

Following on from his last film, the Oscar nominated Juno which showed clear improvement over his debut film Thank You for Smoking, Jason Reitman’s latest film, Up in the Air, shows further improvement over Juno with another sharp script, added maturity over the teenage cool of Juno, and several strong performances from it’s cast including another winning performance by George Clooney. Up in the Air proves to be Reitman’s best film to date.

Ryan Bingham (Clooney) fires people for a living. His firm is hired out by corporations and small businesses looking to downsize their staff but lack the courage to give their staff the news themselves. Bingham, a man with charm and who loves the lifestyle of being on the road, travelling across the country and enjoying first class services along the way, is good enough at his job to convince most of those he’s brought in to fire that this is, in fact, a positive change in their lives. When his boss reveals a new method of firing people over video calls, pioneered by up-and-comer Natalie Keener (Kendrick), Bingham sees his jet-setting life on the road threatened with life in an office and the baggage of then living in one place, owning a home and settling down. Bingham then gets to take Keener o the road with him as he justifies the need for more personal interaction with the people they fire while also wondering whether a casual relationship with another jet-setter called Alex (Farmiga) might have something worth pursuing further.

Maintaining a tone that is both light, yet mature when necessary, Up in the Air is a charming yet also grounding film. Much of the charm comes, no doubt, from the efforts of Clooney who brings his usual charisma to the role of Ryan Bingham and whose delivery, whether telling someone they’re losing their job or addressing a conference room full of Bingham-wannabies, manages to make what he is selling incredibly believable whether it be that losing your job is a positive change or that a life on the road without permanent relationships with anyone is a life worth living. It is more this latter point, a lifestyle on the move, that Bingham believes in personally and the challenges to which that lead to the film’s more dramatic moments and most mature insights. Faced with the prospect of having his jet-setting job replaced with a job in an office cubicle, realising his loose connection to his family has left him excluded from events he thought he’d be included in and finally meeting someone on the road who might just offer him something more than the usual casual fling he has been accustomed too, Bingham must re-evaluate his ideals of life being better without the ties of home or family. The film pushes the importance of human connection but not done so in an overly forced way with some events occurring as you could predict and other turns managing to surprise the audience as much as they do the confident Bingham.

Clooney delivers a very enjoyable performance as Bingham. While perhaps not quite as deserving of the award recognition it is getting (Clooney’s performance as a similar corporate fix-it man in Michael Clayton held much more dramatic weight), it is still thoroughly charming with Clooney also capable of showing the cracks beneath Bingham’s confident and charming demeanour, and perhaps underneath Clooney’s own. Farmiga is good as Alex, who describes herself as Bingham “but with a vagina”. Initially likeable like Clooney’s Bingham, Farmiga is able to hide a more cut-throat personality that lies beneath well and manages to hold her own, much like her character, with Clooney. More enjoyable though is Anna Kendrick as the young, somewhat naïve, up-and-comer Natalie. Bubbly and attempting to appear more confident than she really is, her self-assured certainty over what she wants in life partnered with the naivety from her lack of field experience makes her induction into the world of Bingham one that is at times funny and others emotional but always sympathetic and likeable.

Overall, Up in the Air is a very enjoyable film. Serious when necessary with lessons to give, but done so without overdoing it, the film is also very charming and funny and filled with likeable performances especially from Clooney and Kendrick. It can sometimes be a little too cute for it’s own good but it seems impossible to dislike or to come away without reflecting upon your own life choices.

Rating: 4/5

Daybreakers

Directors: The Spierig Brothers
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe & Sam Neill

Satisfying as B-movie genre piece, Daybreakers doesn’t demonstrate as much ambition in its execution as it does in its ideas but is generally enjoyable.

Delayed a year before release, Daybreakers, the second film from the Spierig Brothers following their low budget horror debut Undead, arrives in cinemas at a time when audiences are yearning for Vampire romances such as those in the Twilight series than more traditional horror approaches. With the most impressive Vampire film of recent years being 2009’s Swedish horror Let the Right One In, Daybreakers has much to compete with critically as well as commercially within the Vampire film genre. Daybreakers is a film that is filled with many interesting ideas but the execution fails to really develop them effectively relying too much on action and gore to drive the story along which, while entertaining in a John Carpenter style, results in a film that is enjoyable but generally unsatisfying.

In the near future of 2019, a viral epidemic has made most of the human population into Vampires with the surviving humans now an endangered species with many on the run and even more kept in farms where their blood is drained to feed the Vampire populace. With the number of captive humans dwindling and blood supplies running out, Haematologist Ed Dalton (Hawke) is working on developing a blood substitute to sustain the Vampire population and save human lives and prevent a mutation that changes blood-starved Vampires into mindless monsters that prey upon the populace. Sympathetic to preserving the human race, Dalton’s encounter with a group of Rogue humans brings him into a former Vampire/turned human named Elvis (Dafoe) that might provide him with a cure to Vampirism if the Vampire leaders who profit from farming humans will allow him to develop it.

Filled with interesting ideas such as how a Vampire dominated society might function, how it would cope with the threat of human extinction and plenty of political and social allegory over how some society’s are coping in the face of Oil shortages and also how some react to deal with viral outbreaks, Daybreakers certainly engages with some of its ideas and questions it raises. However, when attached to a generally action/thriller based plotline with several attack/chase/escape set pieces littered throughout, many ideas are left undeveloped as the film moves from one explosion or gun fight to the next. Characters are similarly given little time to develop beyond their function outside of the central role of Dalton though several are still likeably portrayed by the actors in those roles. The action sequences themselves, while not outstanding, are generally satisfying and evoke the low budget charm and Grand Guignol of the films of John Carpenter or even Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn.

Ethan Hawke gives a decent performance as Ed Dalton, whose empathy is portrayed satisfactorily but Hawke is never able to infuse the character with much warmth beneath all the brooding. Willem Dafoe however, is much more likeable as the former Vampire, now human Elvis who, while fulfilling the role of heroic tough guy, is generally enjoyable throughout. Sam Neill adds much cruelty to his portrayal of the film’s main villain, the CEO of a company seeking to continue farming humans for profit and therefore unsupportive of a cure to Vampirism and Claudia Klavan is decent in a stoic role as lead female and potential love interest for Dalton.

While full of interesting ideas, featuring decent performances from Hawke and Defoe and some John Carpenter style action and scares, Daybreakers does not always develop its ideas satisfactorily and none of the action or performances are particularly memorable to make this more than an average action thriller.

Rating: 3/5

Sherlock Holmes

Director: Guy Ritchie
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law & Mark Strong

A fun, entertaining outing for the literary legends which, despite a weak plot, is still entertaining due to winning performances from Downey Jr. and Law and the chemistry between them as Holmes and Watson.

No stranger to live action adaptations with many films, television dramas and television series made based on the books or merely featuring the character, Sherlock Holmes is one of England’s most popular and enduring literary characters. While there have been many adaptations featuring the character in the past varying in quality, the latest cinematic adaptation by Guy Ritchie is, perhaps, the most obviously commercial attempt at bringing the character to screen that any previously and that it features, no matter how likeable he may be, an American actor in the role of Holmes, this film arrives with much expectation and trepidation surrounding it’s quality. The results are quite mixed. While possessing a plotline somewhat unworthy of the infamous detective, the casting actually proves to be the film’s saving grace with Downey Jr. highly entertaining as Holmes and his chemistry with co-star Law as Watson makes the film enjoyable in spite of its flaws.

Following the completion of their last case together, Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) and Watson (Law) prepare for life apart as Watson prepares himself for marriage. When Lord Blackwood (Strong), the perpetrator of the crimes in Holmes’ last case, seemingly comes back from the dead after his execution, Holmes and Watson are brought back together to investigate and uncover to uncover how it could have occurred, what Blackwood’s plot is and what Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), a thief and former lover of Holmes, has to do with these events.

More humorous and tongue-in-cheek in approach than the original stories on Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes may offend purists but it is nevertheless entertaining. The development of the relationship between Holmes and Watson is the film’s most satisfying aspect giving it jovial tone that feels in part like The Odd Couple but with a few, sly, homo-erotic overtones that gives the bickering yet supportive partnership the feeling of a marriage as much as a friendship. Much of the success of the relationship can be given to Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in their performances but, as good as they are, the rest of the cast suffers in comparison and the film’s actual plot lacks the interest of the characters with the plot itself actually intruding on the film’s more enjoyable scenes. The actual plot of Sherlock Holmes is generally uninspired with little mystery to actually engage the audience or the characters though the inclusion of Steampunk elements is occasionally interesting. The set pieces in the film are also mixed, succeeded best when infused with humour but often undermined by Ritchie’s frenetic editing style and some ropey CGI effects.

Downey Jr. gives a fun performance as Sherlock Holmes. While his attempts at a sophisticated English accent are frequently questionable, it actually adds to the humour in the film. Jude Law is also enjoyable as Watson, the straight man to Downey Jr.’s roguish Holmes and their chemistry together on screen is highly enjoyable with the actor’s own enjoyment, seemingly shining through. The rest of the cast are less enjoyable or memorable. Rachel McAdams is suitably attractive and lively as Irene Adler but distracts too much away from Downey Jr. and Law at times that she comes across as slightly annoying rather than engaging and Mark Strong plays the underwritten role of villain decently but his character and performance lacks either the charm or intimidating air of some of his previous roles on films like Body of Lies or RocknRolla.

Overall, Sherlock Holmes is a fun film with very enjoyable performances from Downey Jr. and Law but the underdeveloped supporting cast and disappointing plot means that the film does not wholly satisfy and is far from the best of Holmes adaptations though it does rank as one of the most fun.

Rating: 3/5

The Road

Director: John Hillcoat
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee & Charlize Theron

A fine adaptation of the McCarthy novel with the bleak outlook of a post-apocalyptic future that still manages to find heart in the relationship of its central father and son characters.

Despite having seen his novels adapted before, Cormac McCarthy and his work received much attention and acclaim in recent years as the adaptation of his novel No Country for Old Men by the Coen Brothers went on to receive wide critical acclaim while his latest novel, The Road, became a critical success too and a commercial bestseller. Before long, The Road was moved into production for the big screen with John Hillcoat, the director of the well received The Proposition at the helm. In spite of delays in getting the final version of the film to the big screen (filming had completed over a year before its release), the film has been worth the wait, remaining very faithful to the book and managing to be gripping and emotionally engaging despite constant images of bleakness and horror.

Following an unnamed disaster that has left the Earth a near desolate wasteland with the human race near wiped out, the remaining survivors struggle to survive and find food whilst avoiding those willing to kill for supplies and the horrors gangs of cannibals also roaming across the country. Living the best they can are a Father (Mortensen) and Son (Smit-McPhee) who are heading for the coast in the hopes of a better life there whilst the Father also tries to teach the values of being good to his son despite facing ever more desperate circumstances.

Already experienced in filming in seemingly harsh, desolate landscapes such as the Australian Outback for The Proposition, John Hillcoat is an ideal choice for filming The Road where desolation is essential to the mood of the film. With minimal us of CG, used to add to live action locations rather than replace them, the post-apocalyptic future of The Road looks bleak and very believable. A feeling of cold and lifelessness can be felt throughout. The story itself, whilst episodic in nature with a few familiar faces cast in supporting roles of those the Father and Son encounter on their travels, each encounter is carefully handled, with each different in the types of threat they represent. One encounter with the Son held captive is suitably tense whilst another where Father and Son come across a lair with human prisoners in the basement is filled with horror or an encounter with an old man portrayed with feelings of pity and sorrow. All add to the overall portrayal of life for our main characters in this world and each represent challenges to the heroic way of life that the Father is trying to teach his Son to uphold. As effective as many of these scenes are, as touching as the father and son relationship is and as well portrayed as the future may be, there are some moments in The Road that are less successful such as flashbacks to a period where the Son’s mother was still present which, while visually adding a contrast to the present day scenes by being shown in warm tones, suffer slightly in the casting and in not adequately developing the breakdown between the Father and Mother.

In the lead roles of Father and Son, Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee are strong. Mortensen, while no going to the extents Christian Bale went to for Rescue Dawn or The Machinist, went to extent of depriving himself of food that he would appear believably emaciated as a man struggling to find food in the world of The Road. Mortensen’s commitment to playing a man who is committed to securing his son’s survival is not limited to his physical appearance and Mortensen brings an intense seriousness to his portrayal of the Father that his love for his son is without doubt. Smit-McPhee is the most impressive though, being the human heart of the film and impressively portraying the Son’s, almost naïve, belief in good and the good of others yet still accustomed to the reality of the life he is living and the harshness of it. Robert Duvall also gives a strong performance in his brief role as a blind man who foresaw this future. Charlize Theron is the only disappointing performance in the film, partly due to her looks which while showing the effects of living in the post-apocalyptic world is still too clean, too glamorous compared to the rest of the film and doesn’t get enough opportunity to really develop her character.

Overall, The Road is a faithful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Hillcoat effectively builds a post-apocalyptic future that is believable in appearance and in the bleakness of it’s mood while Mortensen and Smit-McPhee deliver strong performances as the Father and Son whose relationship is the driving force of the film. A grim, yet emotionally touching story of parenthood and warning of the future.

Rating: 4/5