A Serious Man

Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen
Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind & Fred Melamed

An impressive drama and return to their roots for Coen Brothers with great performances from an, almost entirely, unknown cast.

After a lacklustre decade of films featuring big name casts with only 2008’s No Country for Old Men standing out as being the equal to the brothers’ earlier, more critically acclaimed work, the Coen Brothers deliver an excellent feature film in A Serious Man which, after the star studded and comedic affair that was Burn After Reading, is a quieter, more thoughtful and personal film for the directors and features a cast of virtual unknowns. A Serious Man though is an impressive film that manages to grip throughout and evokes tones similar to the Coens’ Fargo and Barton Fink.

Set in 1960s Minnesota; Jewish physics professor Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg), patiently waiting to receive tenure at the university in which he works, finds his life thrown into upheaval when his wife requests a divorce so she can marry another man, when a student attempts to bribe Larry for better grades and blackmails him when Larry refuses all on the eve of family preparations for Larry’s son’s Bar Mitzvah. Larry is forced to move out of his home and into a motel, with his near-autistic brother Arthur (Kind) and looks to consult a divorce attorney whilst also seeking the advice of three Rabbis’s that he hopes can provide him with wisdom that will help explain why he, a good man, should be facing such troubles. Events then continue to occur to further frustrate Larry and prevent him from finding the answers he needs.

Almost anti-commercial in its concept, a small town drama set in a Jewish community in the 1960s, featuring no well known actors and a plot and dialogue that draws heavily on Jewish culture, A Serious Man seems the complete opposite of the Coen Brothers’ previous film, the star studded spy comedy Burn After Reading. Fortunately, this is all for the better and regardless of whether this film achieves big Box Office success, A Serious Man is far superior to almost every film the Coen Brothers have made in the past decade and the key to its success relies on how personal the project appears to be to the Coens. Based in their home town during a period and culture they lived in as children with characters based upon people they knew, A Serious Man is almost auto-biographical. The Coens’ familiarity with the period, place and people involved results in film that is mature, well written, well realised and with well developed characters that all manage to immerse the audience in the world and in the story, the story which also includes some familiar Coen traits such as small town crime/problems, family relationships and open endings leaving the audience to make their own conclusions as to the future of the characters or to the meaning behind their troubles. Weaving in references and stories from Jewish history (including an odd, yet intriguing prologue to the film and a story about a dentist getting a message from God), they not only add to the development of the characters and atmosphere of the film but also give hints as to the meaning of the film’s ending which is all handled delicately and successfully by the Coens.

Featuring mostly unknown actors, A Serious Man nevertheless impresses greatly from the performances of its cast. Stage actor Michael Stuhlbarg is excellent in the lead role of Larry Gopnick who manages to carry the film well and captures his character’s rising frustration and despair in face of his troubles effectively and sympathetically. Richard Kind (of TV’s Spin City and Scrubs), one of the few actors in the film that has some recognisability, gives an impressive performance as Larry’s brother Arthur who is an enigma throughout the film, sometimes unseen and almost rarely seen outdoors, his character is one that appears nearly autistic and while never dominating in any scene is nevertheless very memorable. Fred Melamed appears as Sy Abelman, the man whom Larry’s wife wishes to marry, whose calm, assured delivery is enjoyable as much as his character frustrates Larry and Aaron Wolff is good as the son of Larry who, like his father, is facing his own problems throughout the film.

A Serious Man is an excellent film by the Coen Brothers and one that harkens back to their earlier, more acclaimed era of filmmaking. Its lack of stars, its attention to period and cultural detail and its open ending might frustrate some audiences but long time Coen Brothers fans will find this their best film in more than a decade.

Rating: 5/5

The Informant!

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Matt Damon, Scott Bakula & Melanie Lynskey

An entertaining comedy drama that balances intrigue and humour to great effect and features a highly enjoyable performance from Matt Damon.

Soderbergh has led an eclectic career in filmmaking, helming personal, artistic projects like Sex, Lies & Videotape, intriguing political dramas like Traffic and Erin Brokovich and lighter, Hollywood friendly films like Ocean’s Eleven. Soderbergh’s latest film is a step away from the more artistic features yet isn’t totally commercial despite the humorous tone and big name star. The Informant! is an intriguing and enjoyable film in part mocking the legal/corporate conspiracy films of which even Soderbergh has contributed too in the past whilst also allowing Soderbergh to engage in his usual experimentations with the film’s look and narrative structure.

Following an FBI investigation into a blackmailing incident at his employers in 1992, Mark Whitacre (Damon) takes the opportunity to blow the whistle of his company’s involvement in a scheme to fix the price of lysine with their competitors to the FBI. With the assistance of FBI Agent Shepard (Bakula) and the encouragement of his wife Ginger (Lynskey), Whitacre agrees to wear a wire and make tape recordings of his company’s business dealings to fix the prices of lysine, globally. What soon becomes evident to Shepard and to the FBI is that Whitacre is not providing them with the whole truth, is perhaps complicit in illegal activities himself and has deluded himself into believing he is some kind of hero like in the John Grisham and Michael Crichton novels he enjoys to read. Whitacre soon takes himself and those he works with further into a complex web of lies he has made himself.

Taking what might otherwise appear to be too dry or complex a story to make engaging, corporate price fixing, Soderbergh instead leaves the actual details of the scandal in the background to focus more on the more intriguing and humorous scandal of Whitacre and his actions to expose the scandal whilst hiding his own involvement and other wrong doings. That the events depicted in the film are based around actual events (though names are changed) adds to the bewilderment and amusement to be had at just how far Whitacre’s lies extend as well as his delusional sense of self worth in the midst of the proceedings. Whitacre is such a well developed character however, superbly performed by Damon, that despite his crimes and deceit you can’t help liking him a little too and Soberbergh’s decision to have Whitacre fade out of the events occurring before him to reflect on more mundane thoughts and distractions, as narrated by Damon, gives us plenty on insight into his character that those around him don’t suspect until it is too late. The Informant!, despite being based on events in 1990s, not only parodies corporate thrillers like The Firm or Soderbergh’s own Erin Brokovich but is also cheekily filmed by Soderbergh to also parody such films from the 1970s with a breezy, 1970s style musical score for dramatic effect and soft lighting that could easily place the film in that period if not for the actual period in which the events occur.

While there are other actors in The Informant!, the film is almost entirely a one man show with Damon putting on such an engaging performance as Whitacre that other actors barely leave an impression on the story, let alone the audience. Damon puts on a superb performance that plays the character, his actions and delusions so straight and earnestly that it makes the actual ridiculousness of those actions all the more amusing. The performance is much more than just a bad haircut and moustache though as Damon seems to relish the chance to immerse himself in the tics and mannerisms of his character after several serious straight roles in films like The Bourne Identity and its sequels. Scott Bakula puts in a likeable performance too as the rather gullible Agent Shepard who, while certainly a less developed character than Whitacre, provides a nice counterpoint to Whitacre’s grandstanding behaviour.

Overall, The Informant! is a fun twist on the corporate/legal conspiracy thriller, made all the more amusing thanks to a fantastic performance from Matt Damon and the knowledge that many of the events, as unbelievable as they might seem, are based on truth! While maybe a little too convoluted at times, The Informant! is still very enjoyable.

Rating: 4/5

2012

Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor & Amanda Peet

Entertaining for its depiction of destruction on a global scale, 2012 lacks much of an actual plot and characters though Cusack puts on a likeable performance as the main lead.

Having not been satisfied by global, though mostly America-centric, destruction with his previous films like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, director Roland Emmerich raises the level of his appetite for destruction to show the end of the world. 2012, like many disaster films in general, places less emphasis on three dimensional characters and original plotting than it does on portraying the disasters themselves and placing characters into life or death situations. The result is film that never really engages with its story but nevertheless offers thrills despite the global carnage involving virtually every kind of natural disaster already committed to film.

When geologist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) is alerted in 2009 of a raise in the temperature in the Earth’s core caused by solar flares, he immediately informs the White House and other world leaders that the rise in heat will soon melt the Earth’s crust resulting in the crumbling and movement of the Earth’s crust which would cause untold devastation through Earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. Three years later in 2012, the government learns that the devastation will occur much sooner than expected as they rush to save as many people as they can on giant arks that they have been building secretly in China. Meanwhile, former writer Jackson Curtis (Cusack) in an attempt to spend time with his children who live with his ex-wife Kate (Peet) becomes aware of the impending destruction and the government’s secret arks whilst on a camping trip at Yellowstone Park and races to save his family and get them to China and safety.

Emmerich’s latest global catastrophe, while even greater in scale than ever before, is also his least original effort to date. With 2012, as impressive as some of the global devastation is, Emmerich appears to have approached the film it may be his last with this film featuring almost every natural disaster imaginable but, given that most of these have been the subjects of films before, they aren’t always that impressive here. There are volcanoes and their dust clouds (Dante’s Peak, Volcano), Earthquakes, tsunamis (Emmerich’s own The Day After Tomorrow) and even sinking ships (The Poseidon Adventure). While visually the devastation is quite impressive and will certainly entertain the audiences coming to see the effects, there are limited thrills to be had with most incidents in the film. Those that do thrill happen fairly early in the action, in particular are two sequences involving Cusack’s character trying to get his family out of a collapsing Los Angeles and then again escaping Yellowstone Park that are exciting due to their faster pace but in the latter half of the film there are only so many tsunamis and falling monuments that be witnessed to sustain audiences and an overlong addition of a Poseidon Adventure-style threat at the end of the film once the cast have reached their means of safety drags the already long film into being far too long.

Performances in 2012 also range from average to forgettable. John Cusack makes the best impression as the lead character of Curtis Jackson who while fulfilling the role of earnest leading man trying to regain the love of his family. Keeping the character likeable, Cusack makes for a decent leading man. Other actors, otherwise excellent when performing in smaller films, add a little credibility to their roles but they remain otherwise one-dimensional with actors like Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt and Danny Glover trying their best and Woody Harrelson being the only one truly entertaining as a conspiracy obsessed radio show performer who Cusack’s Curtis encounters at Yellowstone Park.

Overall, with most of the sequences of devastation having already been depicted in other disaster films and characters yet again taking a backseat in development over the effects, 2012 offers nothing that be called original and the film is far too long with a misguided decision to work a Poseidon Adventure style sequence into the finale. However, some of the sequences still manage to thrill, particularly in the first half of the film and some performances like Cusack and Harrelson’s are likeable.

Rating: 2/5

The White Ribbon

Director: Michael Haneke
Starring: Christian Friedel, Burghart Klassner & Susanne Lothar

A cold, disturbing drama that does an excellent job at building an atmosphere of tension and fear but might upset some audiences expecting answers by the end. A thought provoking thriller.

No stranger to courting controversy with his films and his recurring themes on the nature of cruelty, not only amongst the characters on screen but also within the audiences that watch them, Michael Haneke’s latest film is, perhaps, his most daring yet. Taking place in a remote German village just a year before the outbreak of WWI in 1914 and an era that would change Germany and the world, The White Ribbon is a complex and disturbing drama/thriller about a small village suffering from long developing tensions and frustrations resulting in a series of violent acts in which some, even many, of the villagers may be responsible for.

Recounting his time living in a German village over 1913 and 1914, an unnamed teacher (Friedel) is present for a series of violent acts that start with a trap that fells and injures the local doctor during a horse riding accident and then follows with the death of a farmer’s wife in a mill, the destruction of the local baron’s cabbage patch, the kidnapping and beating of two children and more. The mystery as to who is behind these acts casts wary eyes from the villagers towards each other. Are the village’s children responsible, children who band together frequently to misbehave and two of whom, children of the town pastor (Klassner), have been victims of violence at the hands of their father? Is the son of the farmer’s wife who died responsible when he was seen destroying the baron’s cabbages? The tensions amongst the townsfolk soon reveal many suspects and many reasons why such acts may even be deserved.

After the disappointing, and unnecessary, Hollywood remake of his own 1997 film Funny Games in 2005, Haneke returns to form with The White Ribbon. Confronting, once again, the nature of violence in society, Haneke’s latest film is very impressive and is ambitious in its scope and complexities. Filmed in black and white with unknown actors gives the film the feeling of a film made in the era of the events depicted though the period itself is not announced until the second half of the film allowing Haneke to build up a sense of tension and oppression within the village before casting allusions of their relevance to the country as a whole and its future until later. Haneke also, smartly, avoids giving explicit answers as to who is responsible for many of the acts committed or, in fact, whether one person is responsible at all. The open-endedness of this approach, which is common for Haneke, may frustrate some audiences but it does add to the atmosphere of the film as does Haneke’s choice to have several acts committed off camera with other events occurring on camera which place the innocence of some of the victims into question. One scene in which a young boy walks in on his father, the town doctor, with his sister is more tense and frightening than any of the violence portrayed elsewhere in the film and the treatment of the pastor’s children by the pastor himself portrays the man as an oppressive influence on the village as well as in his home.

Cast with unknowns, the performances throughout The White Ribbon are strong. Christian Friedel is the lead performer in the film as the teacher who narrates the film (though the narration is provided by an older, unseen actor). Portrayed very sympathetically as the witness to the town’s events and given the only really warmth in the film through the storyline involving his romance of a young nanny, the performance is suitably kind hearted and earnest though there are suspicions that this is merely the narrator portraying himself favourably compared to darkness revealed in the other villagers. Burghart Klassner delivers an intense, intimidating performance as the town pastor whose commitment to purification excuses, in his opinion, the punishments he enacts upon his children when he perceives them to have sinned yet he also demonstrates vulnerabilities particularly in a sub-plot surrounding a young boy’s desire to take care of an injured boy. The child actors are impressive giving their characters the sympathy that goes with children suffering whilst also effectively conveying an eerie, Village of the Damned-vibe when suspicions are aroused. Another interesting pair is the town doctor (Rainer Bock) and midwife (Susanne Lothar). With a secret affair going on between them, their relationship initially looks warm but is later revealed as chilling with the doctor’s detachment becoming abusive in on scene with is made all the more disturbing for the audience and the midwife by the emotionless deliver where the midwife’s emotions are always clear.

Overall, if you dislike films that offer bleak outlooks on life or end with questions unanswered, then The White Ribbon won’t be for you. But, if find complex meditations on society interesting then the film should be rewarding as Haneke builds the tension of this small village falling into violence and bigotry expertly and has made a film that is disturbing and thought provoking.

Rating: 5/5

Harry Brown

Director: Daniel Barber
Starring: Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer & Liam Cunningham

An enjoyable, if predictable, thriller that despite many clichés throughout the film, still entertains thanks to a strong performance from Michael Caine.

A film coming out of the current climate in the UK, particularly the levels of crime, Harry Brown could be seen as much as a revenge tale for audiences frustrated at crime and a, seemingly, ineffectual police force as it is a revenge tale for the character of Harry Brown. Whilst not offering a more balanced view of the situation faced in some city areas with the estate depicted in the film an exaggeration of conditions, it nevertheless speaks to the fears experienced by many and for them, and fans of Michael Caine, the film is entertaining despite many shortcomings in the story and its execution.

Concerned with rising crime and gang problems on his local housing estate, retired Harry Brown (Caine) is hit with several losses at once when his bedridden wife dies in the hospital before he can see her due to gangs blocking his way and then his friend Leonard (David Bradley) is found beaten to death following an attempt by Leonard to confront one of the gangs. When the police detectives investigating Leonard’s death lead by Detective Frampton (Mortimer), arrive to inform Harry that a lack of evidence has lead to no convictions amongst the gang members responsible for Leonard’s death, Harry decides to take matters into his own hands, relying on his old training from being in the Marines, to embark upon a vigilante crusade to avenge Leonard’s death and clean up the estate.

Despite possessing a very enjoyable performance from Michael Caine and the subject of the film’s storyline being interesting in it’s, if over-exaggerated, confrontation of fears over crime in contemporary Britain, Harry Brown is a very predictable film. From the inevitable first act death of his friend, to the fates surrounding many of the film’s other characters like gang members themselves and the detectives; most events in the film can be predicted long before they actually occur in the plot. While some enjoyment, if guilty, can be found in seeing criminals get their comeuppance, the inevitability of it all takes away some of the enjoyment as the film offers up no surprises. The film is also filled with cliché with the criminal elements portrayed as irredeemable (no attempts to show how they came to be this way, to stir up any empathy, is attempted) and the police force is shown to be incredibly ineffectual making the film as much a condemnation of the current government as of criminals. With little attempt at anything original, Harry Brown is enjoyable but not as much as it could have been.

Fortunately, what Harry Brown lacks in originality in plotline, it almost makes up for with the performance of Michael Caine in the starring role of Harry himself. Whilst not an especially challenging role, Caine still gives the film much gravitas with his performance as Harry. Initially showing Harry to be world weary but sympathetic to others troubles, his transformation into a man willing to commit violence and take lives when necessary is also believable making the character sympathetic despite the acts he commits. Amongst the mostly unfamiliar faces filling the roles of criminals and police officers who all have largely underwritten roles, the only other noteworthy performance in the film is Emily Mortimer as Detective Frampton. While her role is another one written more for plot purposes, that of the well meaning but ineffectual detective, Mortimer still makes her character a sympathetic one who realises her restrictions but nevertheless opposes Harry’s methods once it becomes clear what he is doing. As the film’s sole objector to Harry’s eye-for-an-eye style of justice, Mortimer does well though not enough to really dampen the enjoyment of Harry’s revenge.

Overall, while possessing an entertaining performance from Michael Caine and some guilty pleasure in his character’s crusade, Harry Brown is quite enjoyable however the plot is riddled with clichés making the story too predictable to satisfy alone. Thankfully the film stars Michael Caine then.

Rating: 3/5

Bright Star

Director: Jane Campion
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish & Paul Schneider

A carefully told period drama about the brief love that grew between poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne that bears many of the hallmarks of the period romance drama yet manages to engage without becoming too stuffy or melodramatic.

The latest in a line of period dramas/romances based upon the lives of famous literary figures, Bright Star has the added pedigree of being directed by Jane Campion whose The Piano in 1993 won several major awards. The resulting film is one that bears many of the trademarks of such dramas such as attention to period detail, poetic verse and long lingering looks between its lovers but instead of coming over as melodramatic or stuffy as any a Merchant Ivory production, the direction and performances are more carefully handled, giving the romance a much more natural feel.

Staying in Hamstead Heath in 1818 by the courtesy of his friend Charles Brown (Schneider) to look after his dying brother Thomas and work on his poetry, John Keats (Whishaw) becomes attracted to Fanny Brawne (Cornish), the daughter of the landlady of their property who finds herself drawn to Keats in return. Wishing to spend time with Keats and learn more about poetry, despite earning the ire of Brown who wants Keats’ time for himself, Fanny rejects the society’s standing that a woman should only be with a man who can provide for her (Keats being a struggling poet without any income) and she and Keats fall in love. Their love however is threatened by the objections of Brown, the concerns of Fanny’s mother and ultimately ended when Keats becomes stricken with an illness that will finally take his life in 1821.

Smartly keeping the focus of the relationship between Fanny Brawne and John Keats down to the last three years of his life rather than beginning at their first encounter and/or shoehorning in stereotypes like love at first sight, Jane Campion starts Bright Star with a more natural introduction to the characters involved, one that establishes that Brawne and Keats are already, somewhat, with each other already though their romantic relationship has yet to blossom. Campion’s introductions to the main characters are not the only unconventional approach she has taken in her depiction of the character’s romance. Musical score is largely absent from the film where other literary biopics might rely on music to add drama, Campion instead allows for silences for the sounds of the character’s surroundings, such as birdsong, to fill in for a score and when a score is present it is used unobtrusively. Campion’s depictions of her characters also allows for emotion to be seen whether it be light humour, flirting or upset with the grief experienced by Brawne at the film’s finale keenly felt. Bright Star might employ impeccable attention to period detail and the occasional scenes of its couple staring lovingly at each other but it generally avoids becoming overdramatic, forcing emotion or coming over as stuffy like many a Merchant Ivory film.

Bright Star is built around three main characters and fortunately all the three roles are performed very well by the cast. Ben Whishaw gives Keats a quiet, thoughtful demeanour. Rather than overplay the character’s behaviour, having over-emote as a poet could be imagined to be, he gives a very understated performance which, while generally places his character in the context of Brawne and Brown’s relationship with him, still gives a good idea of the character’s own feelings towards them. Abbie Cornish gives the most impressive performance as Fanny Brawne, the real star of the film, with her character’s early cautious, yet flirtatious, nature believably evolving into a more intelligent and confident woman as she seeks to prove her own abilities to Keats and to Brown. Finally, Paul Schneider is very enjoyable as Charles Brown, Keats friend and jealous objector to Fanny’s advances on Keats and on their own time together. Delivering a convincing Scottish accent (Schneider is American); Schneider impresses giving Brown a convincingly jealous demeanour whilst suggesting a hidden attraction to Keats that may have fuelled such jealousy.

Overall, Bright Star is a good period drama/biopic that avoids many of the stereotypes of such genre films whilst still providing enough believable romance and drama to keep fans of such films very happy. A carefully made and enjoyable romance.

Rating: 4/5

9

Director: Shane Acker
Starring (voices of): Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly & John C. Reilly

Visually very impressive with some entertaining ideas and sequences, 9 is held back by a plot that feels too over familiar leaving the film more memorable for it’s visuals than it’s story.

Originally seeing life as a short animated film by Shane Acker, 9 went onto to impress film producers/directors Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov leading to Acker to expand upon his original short for this feature length version. Featuring plenty of impressive CGI animation and with Acker able to further explore his imagination and flesh out the world he created in his short film, 9 looks incredibly impressive. However, with it also becoming necessary to expand upon the storyline of his 11 minute short to run 79 minutes for the feature, 9 compares less favourably in it’s storyline with too much religious sub-text seemingly shoehorned into the plot.

In the far future, the Earth is a wasteland and the human race extinct following a massive war between man and machines. When a small robot made of gears and sackcloth named 9 (Wood) awakens in this world he goes searching for answers finding other robots like himself, given life by a recently deceased scientist, and also finds more dangerous robots out to seek their destruction including a super weapon given life accidentally by 9. Banding together with the other robots like himself with some eager to assist like 5 (Reilly) and 7 (Connelly) and others resistant to conflict like the ancient 1 (Christopher Plummer), 9 searches for a way to defeat the enemy robot and discover the truth behind the world’s destruction and his own creation.

9 will be a film best remembered for the imagination involved in the creation of its world and its inhabitants more than the storyline itself. Using CGI, the creation of this war torn future is very impressive and, rather than being a destroyed utopia such as many future-set films employ, 9’s future world bears elements of Steampunk in that this world could easily be the ruins of European cities following WWII with even newsreel style footage being used at one point to fill the characters and audience in on the events that resulted in this future coming about. Enough thought is also used in the design of the nine heroic robots in the film using the cute sackcloth look as a template but giving each robot a unique look to suit their personality while the evil robots are a mix of huge attack droids bearing similarities to the alien ships of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds (which appears to be an influence in the film) and scarier looking constructs built out of spare parts, even skeletons, like a snake-like creature with needle-like claws and a deformed dolls head on top being particularly disturbing. However, despite the strong visuals and imagination on show, the story itself is somewhat lacking. As soon as the religious sub-text woven into the story becomes more obvious then the outcome of the storyline and the genesis of the robots become somewhat predictable with a conclusion that is so saccharine that it feels out of place with the tone of the rest of the film. The heroic robots, the nine, while interesting also conform to specific stereotypes of hero, sceptic, muscle, heroine and best friend without much in the way of character development.

Given that each of the nine robots conform to stereotypical roles, the voice cast have little to add beyond ensuring those personalities shine through. All give decent performances such as Elijah Wood in the lead role of 9, or Jennifer Connelly as 7 though none are particularly noteworthy. Veteran actors such as Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau add some gravitas to their character’s words and John C. Reilly makes 5 quite sympathetic but, much like the film’s plot, the performances are less memorable than the film’s visuals.

Visually stunning and filled with tons of imagination, 9 is a film that could develop a cult following based on its concepts alone however, as impressive as the film looks, the storyline and the personalities of the characters are considerably less well developed resulting in a fairly average Sci-Fi animation even though it is certainly a good looking one.

Rating: 3/5

Jennifer's Body

Director: Karyn Kusama
Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried & Johnny Simmons

A fun horror/comedy with a perfectly cast Megan Fox and enjoyable performance from Seyfried though, while entertaining, is not as mean or as funny as it could have been.

Following on from her Oscar-winning success writing the screenplay for the film Juno, Diablo Cody’s follow up project was always going to be under scrutiny. Cody’s follow up is Jennifer’s Body which, on the surface, appears to be well suited to the writers wit with it advertised as a high school horror in the tone of Heathers but with the supernatural thrown in to add more gore and a feminist tone with it’s lead protagonist and antagonists being women. The resulting film is one that is quite fun in places with Diablo Cody’s wit shining through at times but also disappoints slightly as it is neither as dark, witty or daring as Heathers, a film which is a clear inspiration for Jennifer’s Body.

Anita ‘Needy’ Lesnicki (Seyfried) has been best friends with Jennifer (Fox) since childhood and despite both becoming different people, Needy more academic whilst Jennifer grew to be a cheerleader, they have still remained friends. When a night out to a concert at a local bar turns into a bloodbath when the bar burns down, Jennifer leaves Needy to go with the band and when she next appears to Needy, she is covered in blood and craving meat. It soon becomes apparent to Needy that Jennifer has changed and is, perhaps, possessed as Jennifer proceeds to seduce and consume boys at their high school whilst also developing an interest in Needy’s own boyfriend Chip (Simmons). With no one willing to believe her theories, Needy takes it upon herself to stop Jennifer by any means necessary.

Jennifer’s Body has a lot of ingredients to suggest the film would be quite fun and sharp-witted. Written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama, director of 2001’s Girlfight, and also starring Megan Fox who is a popular actress on the rise, less due to her acting ability and more on her appearance and personality, Jennifer’s Body looks to be a horror film with a humorous and feminist edge. The film itself does have these elements as expected, but the execution is somewhat lacking with the finished film not being as smart, mean or funny as it could have been. Heathers, released in 1989 without any supernatural horror elements, was far more daring and funny in its approach to high school life and horrors. There is still much to like in Jennifer’s Body however as Cody’s script, while not as strong as her script for Juno, still fits in plenty of snappy one liners and some of the feminist sub-text is clearly evident throughout with boys portrayed merely as predators, prey, incompetent and/or ignorant for the most part due to their desires. Jennifer’s Body also features a pretty strong, and likable, heroine in Needy.

Megan Fox is well cast in the lead role of Jennifer in the film. Whilst not a role that stretches her acting ability, it is one well suited to her star persona with it capitalising on her appearance and her personality. Fox appears to enjoy herself a lot throughout the film too as the film’s central villainess, vamping it up at every opportunity. It is Amanda Seyfried that delivers the best performance in Jennifer’s Body. Making Needy appear as innocent and devoted to Jennifer and her boyfriend Chip as necessary at the start of the film, Seyfried is able to make Needy believably smart and resourceful too and when time comes for her character to get mean in return it feels like the result of a woman pushed too far which makes the film’s prologue and epilogue all the more enjoyable. Johnny Simmons is average as the doting, all-too-naïve, boyfriend of Needy while the film is enjoyably filled with actors like J.K. Simmons as the girl’s dim-witted school principal and Adam Brody (of TV’s The O.C.) enjoying a villainous role as the morally bankrupt lead singer of the band which brings about Jennifer’s possession in the first place.

Overall, Jennifer’s Body is plenty of fun with enjoyable performances from Fox, Seyfried and Brody with some good jokes courtesy of writer Diablo Cody, however the film is never as dark, funny or daring as it’s talent and plot would have you expect and compares less favourably with films that have influenced Jennifer’s Body like Heathers. Fun, if a little toothless.

Rating: 3/5

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Director: Grant Heslov
Starring: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor & Jeff Bridges

An occasionally funny comedy made more so because it’s based upon some truth but never really embraces the absurdity of its truth or be as subversive a film as it could have been.

Based on the non-fiction book by writer Jon Ronson, itself spinning out of his investigations into stories of a New Age US Army Unit for his 2001 TV documentary series Secret Rulers of the World, The Men Who Stare at Goats has material for comedy as well as making subversive statements about war and military forces particularly in the current climate. The result though, while occasionally funny, is not as funny or subversive as it could have been as the source material is somewhat watered down by too many fictional elements added to the story.

Reporter Bob Wilton (McGregor) is looking to raise his reputation as a reporter following a break up with his girlfriend. Looking to get into Iraq to gain experience and reputation as a war correspondent, Bob stumbles across Lyn Cassady (Clooney), a former Special Forces operative who is linked to a secret unit within the US Military that formed in the 1980s to develop psychic soldiers. Following Lyn into Iraq on a mission that may involve Lyn returning to active duty, Bob gets the story of how the New Age Unit that Lyn was a member of came about, how the unit fell apart and maybe how it all might be coming back.

Funny when it covers actual aims of the US Military unit that Jon Ronson investigated like the task in the film’s title where soldiers were trained to kill goats by staring at them, The Men Who Stare at Goats is less successful at humour and satire when it returns to its fictionalised story of how Ronson discovered such methods with the film recasting Ronson’s British journalist with an American version of himself in Bob Walton and pushing the buddy comedy style road trip between his character and Clooney’s. While this relationship results in some occasional humour too, it generally detracts from the ‘based on true events’ nature of the New Age Army itself with the opening statement in the film that more of the events depicted in the film are true than the audience would believe meaning audiences unfamiliar with Ronson’s book or TV documentaries may find themselves questioning the reality of the events that were true and which would be far funnier if the truth behind them were embraced. The film also makes connections between the methods explored by the New Age Army in the 1980s and interrogation techniques being used by the US Military today yet doesn’t adequately explore them much in the way that only aspects of Ronson’s investigations saw media coverage rather than the whole.

Performances in The Men Who Stare at Goats are generally quite enjoyable though none stand out for any of the actors involved. George Clooney is enjoyable as Lyn Cassady, the former New Age Army officer who is convinced he can perform the psychic feats he was trained for. Clooney resorts to his usual style of facial ticks and lampoonish behaviour that he employs when performing a comedy and while it is enjoyable there is little that is memorable. Ewan McGregor is decent but his performance is held back by his attempts at delivering his lines with an American accent which leaves his performance lacking when confronted by the larger than life antics of actors like Clooney and Bridges. Jeff Bridges delivers a likeable performance as Bill Django, the former commander of the New Age Army, who delivers a Jeff Lebowski-esque performance during the character’s prime before taking the character to his inevitable fate as a burned out shell of his former self in the present and Kevin Spacey plays his role as the meaner, jealous Larry Hooper with his usual deadpan flair.

Overall, while occasionally funny and featuring likeable performances from Clooney and Bridges, The Men Who Stare at Goats is not as funny or as satisfying as it could have been. Fictionalising some of the events of Jon Ronson’s non-fiction books means the humour to found in the actual true events depicted are watered down by the purely fictional events. Enjoyable but a little disappointing.

Rating: 3/5

An Education

Director: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Casey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard & Alfred Molina

A charming coming of age tale that manages to issues of it’s 1960’s setting’s attitude towards women and education and the age differences of its main characters whilst also infusing the film with warmth, humour and a great performance from Casey Mulligan.

Based on the true life experiences of writer Lynn Barber and her book, An Education has been adapted for the big screen by popular author Nick Hornby, whose previous experience with film has been on the receiving end of having his own work adapted for the screen. The result is a film that has a lot of genuine emotion and truths but features Hornby’s gift for snappy, witty dialogue that makes An Education a genuinely enjoyable film rather than one that is over-driven by the drama of the events depicted.

Jenny (Mulligan) is a 16 year old girl in 1962 England. Driven by her father, Jack (Molina), to succeed in school so that she might get into Oxford University and have a promising education and future ahead of her, Jenny does however wish for a more exciting life like those depicted in the French films and music she adores. When a stranger named David (Sarsgaard) arrives one day and offers to give Jenny a lift home to avoid the rain she finds herself attracted to this older man and his more carefree lifestyle of parties and trips to Paris. Even Jenny’s parents are lured in by the charming David, however as the less savoury side of David’s lifestyle peek through and the differences in their ages and desires become more relevant, Jenny faces a reality less glamorous than she expected and one that might threaten her initial goals of getting into Oxford.

While at first it may seem as though An Education’s humour and charm might undermine and soften the more serious aspects to the relationship between Jenny and David in the film and the threats to Jenny’s future, the humour and charm actually work well in different ways. Firstly, the film’s charm which is helped by Hornby’s script and Mulligan’s performance as Jenny, helps to lure the audience into David’s lifestyle almost as well as it lures in Jenny and whenever something unpleasant or suspect arises you soon find yourself won over again by the film’s charm which is again much like how David manages to keep Jenny interested until it is almost too late. Whether this occurs by accident or design is unknown, it nevertheless adds to the film’s message and atmosphere as well as also punctuating the drama with moments of warmth and laughter meaning the film almost flies by and still manages to feel important with over dramatising the film’s story. The attention to detail towards capturing the mood of the era in which the film is set as French culture grew in popularity yet just prior to real revolution with women’s rights, the film presents the era as also a period on the verge of change much like Jenny herself.

Casey Mulligan leads the performances in An Education with very impressive performance as Jenny. A relative newcomer after just few television roles, Mulligan’s performance is filled with confidence and manages to not only convey Jenny’s intelligence and drive but also her vulnerabilities in a cohesive, loveable whole as if Mulligan was a more experienced actress. The performance here marks Mulligan as a talent to watch. Peter Sarsgaard is good as David, losing his American accent for an English one that sounds like a faux-middle class accent which serves to help with his performance as a man who isn’t all what he seems and gets by in life as well as with Jenny more by his talent for talking and charming others. He portrays David as a sometimes charming and sometimes suspicious character and while sometimes his behaviour can make the audience uneasy, he manages to avoid coming across as too predatory. Alfred Molina is engaging as Jenny’s rather stuffy father which is likeable if somewhat cartoonish at times and there are several good supporting performances from Olivia Williams as Jenny’s struggling teacher, Emma Thompson in a rare mean role as Jenny’s head teacher, Dominic Cooper as David’s friend Danny and an impressive turn from Rosamund Pike as Danny’s somewhat vapid girlfriend Helen.

Overall, An Education is a very charming and enjoyable drama that avoids too much melodrama but is no less insightful or dramatic in light of all the film’s warmth. Witty and smart with a wonderful performance from Casey Mulligan, An Education is a great coming of age tale.

Rating: 4/5