The Limits of Control

Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Isaach De Bankole, Paz de la Huerta & John Hurt

Another meditative drama from Jarmusch that will please most fans but frustrate audiences not already familiar with the director’s style.

As several other, independent, directors have done recently (Woody Allen with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Wes Anderson with The Darjeeling Limited), Jim Jarmusch has followed suit in relocating the action of his latest film to foreign climes. The Limits of Control is similar in theme and approach as many of Jarmusch’s other films but in moving the location from America to Spain allows Jarmusch to allow his camera to linger on the beautiful locations and vistas that Spain has to offer. European in his approach to storytelling already, Jarmusch’s latest film will please his fans and the use of locations may please some other film goers.

The Lone Man (De Bankole) is an agent, a supposed assassin, hired to fulfil a job in Spain. Given directions to wait at cafés, enjoy local sights and await further instructions as to his target and their location, the Lone Man meets a variety of colourful agents at various Spanish locations, each with their own philosophies on life and art and imagination that may, or may not, aid him in the completion of his assignment.

While The Limits of Control holds plenty that will satisfy fans of Jim Jarmusch, the film itself, while entertaining, occasionally feels lacking through its assemblage of various familiar traits and themes from Jarmusch’s previous films. With the lone assassin recalling Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai and the frequent conversations over coffee recalling Coffee & Cigarettes, even Broken Flowers in it’s episodic approach to the Lone Man’s encounters and the frequent familiar faces from Jarmusch’s past films, The Limits of Control sometimes feels as though Jarmusch is drawing too much on past works than developing anything new, much like Almodovar in his recent effort Broken Embraces. However, the pieces do work together fairly well and still satisfy and where The Limits of Control does impress is in its use of Spain as a location. Using Christopher Doyle, known from the works of Wong Kar Wai, as cinematographer means Jarmusch has a film that looks beautiful and when the camera lingers on one of Jarmusch’s many scenes of meditation and contemplation, the scenery enriches the scenes and the film. The lack of a plot will no doubt frustrate audiences unfamiliar with Jarmusch’s work, but there are hints of a political sub-text below the surface with the Lone Man’s contacts representing various nations opposed to US actions and the Lone Man’s target referred later as just the American.

Featuring an impressive cast of talented actors, many having worked with Jarmusch before, The Limits of Control features many likeable, if brief, performances. Tilda Swinton, John Hurt and Gael Garcia Bernal all appear as various contacts of the Lone Man’s, each reciting their musings on art, film, music and life in engaging style and each represented as more casual looking and dishevelled than the last (perhaps representing the Lone Man’s need to let go of control and embrace his imagination if he is to complete his assignment). Paz de la Huerta is engaging as the film’s equivalent to a femme fatale but it is Isaach De Bankole who truly engages throughout as the Lone Man. De Bankole, a frequent collaborator with Jarmusch, is an actor who embodies quiet cool. His character, the Lone Man, rarely speaks in the film so it is good that De Bankole, with a face and a demeanour that draws attention and impresses silently, is cast in the film’s leading role.

Overall, while drawing a little too much on the director’s past films to stand up as one of his best, The Limits of Control will still satisfy fans of Jarmusch and many will certainly be impressed by the lush cinematography and the Spanish locations. Newcomers though may be frustrated by the film’s slow pace and meditative tone. A film mainly for independent film and Jarmusch fans.

Rating: 3/5

Avatar

Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana & Sigourney Weaver

Stunning effects and use of 3D makes Avatar the ground breaking blockbuster James Cameron promised the film to be with it being incredibly impressive and entertaining in spite of a fairly predicable and average plotline.

Approximately 14 years in the making and requiring technological advancements in special effects so sophisticated that, director, James Cameron had to build them himself, Avatar finally reaches the big screen utilising the latest in CGI and 3D effects to present a world and a film experience beyond anything yet seen in cinemas and like Cameron’s previous films such as Terminator, Terminator 2 and Titanic, pushing forward the future of effects driven blockbusters. The resulting film is certainly impressive visually with CGI people and creatures as realistic look as live action and 3D used well enough to make the film’s environment and its action sequences truly breathtaking however, the story on which Avatar is based is still fairly clichéd in plotting and dialogue but this is more than made up for by the sheer spectacle of the film.

It is 2154 and soldier Jake Sully (Worthington) who lost the use of his legs in a previous battle is given the chance to walk again in a new body when, following the death of his twin brother, he is enlisted to take his brother’s place in the Avatar Program which will allow him control of an alien body with which to engage and negotiate with an alien population called the Na’vi on an alien world which possesses valuable minerals the human race needs. Initially sent in by his military commander to infiltrate the Na’vi and find a way to get them to relocate their home for the human’s mining operation, Sully finds himself coming to know and love the Na’vi people after meeting a female Na’vi named Neytiri (Saldana). When it becomes obvious that Na’vi will not relocate, Sully is torn between helping the Na’vi survive an oncoming military assault to remove them by force and with his loyalty to his own race and the promise of his commander to restore his ability to walk in his human body.

The plot of Avatar won’t be what audiences really remember the film for and the plot itself is actually fairly average and follows the well worn tale of: Man sent to infiltrate foreign culture, falls in love with a woman there and the culture, finds himself torn between love and duty. Fortunately, as average as the plot itself and some of the dialogue is, the story is satisfactory enough to allow Cameron to develop a new world, that of Pandora, with which to use his advancements in CGI and 3D effects and the visuals are certainly stunning. With much of the film surrounding the Na’vi people, a race of tall, blue skinned aliens, it is important that they appear realistic and they do. Solving the dead eye problem that has plagued many a CGI humanoid character in earlier blockbuster films, Avatar’s CGI effects, particularly in bringing the Na’vi to life, are impressive with the Na’vi able to display a full range of expressions which is helped that several are made to resemble the actors providing their voices like Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. The use of 3D in Avatar is also stunning and rather than used for cheap, gimmicky ‘shots out at the audience’ moments, it is instead utilised to give a greater sense of depth and scale to the world of Pandora which looks and feels as close to a realistic representation of an alien environment as audiences are ever likely to experience and with the use of CGI and 3D complementing each other effectively to make Avatar’s many action sequences truly breathtaking.

While character’s in Avatar are very much stereotypical or straying close to stereotype such as Stephen Lang’s tough-as-nails Colonel Quaritch or Giovanni Ribisi’s greedy corporate leader Parker Selfridge, the performances of the cast are still generally enjoyable. Sam Worthington makes a satisfying leading man as Jake Sully whether in the live action role of Sully’s human self or in the voice acting with his Avatar counterpart. There are a few moments where Worthington is good at portraying Sully’s conflicting emotions from being able to move from his fully functioning Avatar body to his own, crippled body which are genuinely impressive. Zoe Saldana gives a decent performance too, giving voice to Neytiri the Na’vi princess whom Jake Sully falls in love with while Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Joel David Moore are likeable in the supporting roles as members of the Avatar program’s team. The most memorable character though is likely Stephen Lang’s Colonel which, while written and performed to type, is gloriously alpha-male that he is even able to breath Pandora’s poisonous atmosphere without constant help of respirators.

Overall, the story and performances in Avatar are generally average and predictable but the effects, the visualisation of an alien world, the intense action sequences and effective use of 3D (in cinemas) means the enjoyment of the spectacle, or the experience of seeing Avatar, overcome many of its flaws. It is ‘must see cinema’.

Rating: 4/5 if seen in 3D, 3/5 if not.

Paranormal Activity

Director: Oren Peli
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat & Mark Fredrichs

A very scary and expertly handled horror that shows that there is still potential in The Blair Witch Project formula and showing that horror needs not always resort to extreme violence to generate scares.

Filmed on a low budget of merely $15,000, Paranormal Activity has since received critical acclaim at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and become a hit film in America. Fortunately, the film lives up to the hype taking a very simple plot and set up and delivering a chilling horror film without the need for well known actors, extreme gore or big budgets. Using the gimmick of ‘found footage’ of a supposed real event in the style of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity is far more effective in its execution.

Couple Katie (Featherston) and Micah (Stoat) decide to set up a camera in their home, at Micah’s request, to attempt to capture footage of what is occurring in their home at night after having experienced several incidents of strange noises in their home which has Katie convinced she is being haunted after having experienced similar phenomenon throughout her life. After calling in a psychic who claims it is Katie being haunted and that they should not attempt to antagonise the spirit, Micah’s continued attempts to film and prove the spirit’s existence leads to an increase in incidents and in their severity with several incidents finally caught on camera and the danger facing the couple becoming life threatening.

Using an incredibly simple set up involving a static camera in the night time scenes filming events in the couple’s bedroom while having Micah use a handheld camera throughout the day to document the pair’s reactions to events going on around them and what they should do about it, Paranormal Activity is surprisingly effective. Director Oren Peli certainly makes the most of his set up with the night time sequences filmed on a static camera proving to be an impressive use of limited resources. The bedroom itself and placement of the camera is delicately done to allow full view of our sleeping couple whilst being able to see beyond the bedroom door into the hallway and just able to glimpse other rooms in the darkness. Using shadow and mainly sound effects (footsteps, creaks), Peli builds up the tension slowly over many nights of footage to the point where a suddenly slamming door or a light randomly turning on and off in a far room can generate jumps and tension and with the somewhat amateurish look of the film and of its actors lending a feeling or authenticity to the events being witnessed that a glossier, bigger budgeted horror with known faces would be unlikely to achieve. There are the usual concessions to the horror movie genre and stereotypes that do sometimes detract from the scares such as bringing in a psychic or a moment involving Micah following a sound into the house’s loft that still feel clichéd in spite of the film’s look, but otherwise the film is effective even if you don’t ascribe to any belief in the supernatural.

Not much can be said about the acting in Paranormal Activity. Filmed around mainly two actors played by amateur actors, even keeping their own first names on screen, the performances are fine enough that you get a feeling of their fear and reactions but beyond their reactions to the events around them there is little added development to either character with Micah in particular feeling almost stereotypically sceptical of the events and unsupportive of Katie’s needs until it is too late. Nevertheless, for the purpose of the film’s approach, the anonymity of the actors does add believability to their performances and sympathy for their situation as it gets progressively worse.

Overall, Paranormal Activity is an incredibly effective horror film that makes the most of its low budget to achieve genuine scares. While it occasionally follows familiar horror movie clichés, the simple set up and almost authentic look of the film makes this a more believable and frightening horror than its bigger budget, gore driven competitors. Recommended.

Rating: 4/5

Where the Wild Things Are

Director: Spike Jonze
Starring: Max Records, James Gandolfini (voice of) & Lauren Ambrose (voice of)

A wonderful adaptation of the classic children’s story which builds upon the original story without losing the tone or magic of Sendak’s story.

Eight years in the making since Spike Jonze, director of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, was brought in to adapt the classic children’s story for the big screen, Where the Wild Things Are is finally released after many rumours of problems with the studios over Jonze’s early cut of the film which scared many children during its test screening. Whether any re-shoots were done since then is hard to see as the resulting film is an excellent adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s book which remains very scary at times, very mature for grown ups yet still embraces the fun of childhood to make this still a film for children, albeit not little ones.

A troublesome child, Max (Records), has troubles with his broken family made up of a distant sister, absent father and a mother who he feels spends more time with her new boyfriend than with him. After throwing a temper tantrum at dinner and running away from home, he imagines himself travelling across the ocean to a strange land where large, beast like creatures live who are undergoing their own dysfunctional family problems. Led by the short tempered, yet imaginative Carol (Gandolfini), the Wild Things are tricked by Max into believing Max is a king and able to solve their problems and reunite them with their own runaway member KW (Ambrose). With life improving for the group for a small time, Max finds them falling apart again through their own differences and his own safety at risk should the Wild Things discover he is not a king.

An ambitious undertaking, adapting a beloved children’s story with few words into feature length feature film, so much could have gone wrong in the adaptation. With the help of writer Dave Eggers in writing the screenplay for the film, Jonze has managed to add enough to the original story to justify the extra running length for a film yet manages to make the additions feel organic to the story, as if they were always intended. The Wild Things have been fleshed out and given names and personalities and those personalities themselves appear to aspects of Max’s own personality and feelings towards those around him with Carol representing his imagination and frustration, KW his love and feelings of distance for/from his mother and sister amongst others. It is it delicate and engaging development of the original story and one that received the approval of Maurice Sendak himself. Relying on old fashioned suit and make up effects, with minimal CGI, to bring the Wild Things to life, they look like they have stepped directly from the pages of the original book. They are convincing, expressive and maintain the feelings of awe and fear of the original creatures. The tone of the film, whilst too layered and dark for smaller children is also impressively handled with moments of real fear (such as Max glimpsing the skeletons of former, failed kings) and also joy in the Wild Things childlike games.

In the lead role of Max, newcomer Max Records is impressive. He manages to embody Max’s turbulent, angry yet needy, nature with apparent ease and demonstrating Max’s vulnerabilities and fears as much with a subtle expression or gesture as much as through tears or dialogue. The voice casting in the film is also excellent with James Gandolfini leading the way as Carol, bringing the same childish anger to his voice performance as he did physically in his role as Tony Soprano in The Sopranos. The rest of the cast from Paul Dano as Alexander to Forest Whitaker and Catherine O’Hara as Ira and Judith, bring their character’s to life both fulfilling the personality traits each is meant to represent whilst interacting believably within the group itself.

Overall, Where the Wild Things Are is an excellent adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s original book that builds upon the original story believably and brings all the characters to life with great performances from the cast while maintaining a tone that is both dark and joyful like the original book and should please adults and children alike. Just don’t take the little children!

Rating: 5/5

Bunny and the Bull

Director: Paul King
Starring: Edward Hogg, Simon Farnaby & Veronica Echegui

A wonderfully dark and surreal road trip comedy from the makers of The Mighty Boosh that should entertain fans of that series but is much more mature but still funny and visually impressive.

After having much success directing the TV series The Mighty Boosh, Paul King has chosen to make his big screen debut a film that, while possessing actors, humour and a visual style familiar to fans of The Mighty Boosh, is a new creation with new characters instead of merely making The Mighty Boosh: The Movie. The resulting film, Bunny and the Bull, is a surreal, funny and mature road trip that never leaves the flat in which its lead character resides and instead takes place within a series of impressively crafted sets based around household objects.

Stephen (Hogg) has been living a hermit’s life in his flat for the past year, too stricken by fear to leave its confines. When his daily routine is upset by mice and he is faced with the thought of having to leave the flat for the first time he instead begins to dwell upon a past break up with a previous girlfriend and the road trip he ended up taking across Europe with his friend Bunny (Farnaby) that led up to him returning home and having not left it since. Envisioning the sights they say and people they met through items in his flat reminding him of those events, he recalls a trip that was emotional and life changing and incredibly surreal.

The most notable thing about Bunny and the Bull is its visual style. The imagination represented in King’s attempts to depict various locations throughout Europe via household objects laying around Stephen’s flat is incredibly impressive and on a level equal to that of director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind). Whether it is Switzerland reconstructed through a snow globe, a Belgian restaurant through a takeaway box or a German fairground built from the parts inside Stephen’s clock, the sets of Bunny and the Bull never fail to engage and entertain. Such an eye for visuals was obvious from King’s work on The Mighty Boosh but Bunny and the Bull excels even further. The film’s story is also very entertaining. Despite following the familiar episodic beats that most road trip films follow, the visuals and King’s surreal, slightly dark, sense of humour enlivens most scenes and while The Mighty Boosh fans might be most entertained by sequences where that series’ stars make cameos, the best sequences are actually when more time is spent just with our three leads of Simon, Bunny and their love interest in Eloisa (Echegui) whom they meet in Belgium and take along with them on their trip to Spain. The characters themselves though are difficult to like at times, all being too self-absorbed to truly love, but the humour makes them likeable enough.

The stars of Bunny and the Bull are all sufficiently charming and performed well in those aspects by the cast. Edward Hogg makes for a likeable, if unlikely, lead character in Stephen whose lack of self esteem and introverted nature makes him easy to sympathise with yet find annoying too when necessary when his reluctance to take risks to find happiness infuriate the audience as much as it infuriates his friend Bunny. Hogg nevertheless keeps Stephen on just the right side of likeable that, in spite of the character’s faults, you can’t help but hope for his life and outlook to change for the better. Simon Farnaby is incredibly entertaining as the womanising, selfish and care free Bunny who gets most of the best lines and is well performed by Farnaby who, like with Hogg and Stephen, is able to make his character one to like and loathe when necessary. Slightly less well-represented is Eloisa by Veronica Echegui who, while occasionally likeable, is often too annoying a character to understand why Stephen would be interested. Filling out supporting roles are Paul King production familiars such as Noel Fielding, Julian Barrett and Richard Ayoade who all entertain though they do distract from the main leads.

Overall, The Mighty Boosh fans should enjoy Bunny and the Bull, it having the same visual style, sense of humour and featuring cameos by familiar faces, but the film is more mature and darker in tone than that show. Most audiences should find the film’s visual style very impressive though and the film certainly is funny.

Rating: 4/5

Me and Orson Welles

Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Zac Efron, Christian McKay & Claire Danes

A likeable period drama that captures the period and environment of the stage at the time with an impressive performance from Christian McKay as Welles.

Orson Welles, infamous in film and on stage as a visionary performer and producer whose ego matched his ambition, has been played on screen many times before in films such as Cradle Will Rock and RKO 281, but his latest depiction on screen is possibly the best yet. Me and Orson Welles, despite starring teen heart-throb Zac Efron (of the High School Musical film series), will be most memorable for the performance of Christian McKay as Welles who captures the look and attitude of Welles impressively. The film itself is quite enjoyable, if conventional in it’s plotting, but will be most enjoyed for Orson Welles.

It is 1937 New York and teenager, Richard (Efron), has ambitions of becoming an actor. When out of school and trying to get roles on stage he is cast, by chance, in a small role in part of Orson Welles’ (McKay) stage adaptation of Julius Caesar. Finding himself awestruck by the presence of Welles and hitting it off with the theatre’s production assistant Sonja (Danes), Richard soon finds that in between moments of greatness, Welles is also spiteful and egotistical with Richard’s youthful ambitions challenged by the legendary performer.

Me and Orson Welles is a perfectly likeable film. Despite their flaws, the characters portrayed with whether fictional, like Richard, or based on real life figures like Joe Cotton and Norman Lloyd, are all portrayed as being warm and friendly most of the time. Even Orson Welles, whose temper was as infamous as his charm, is never portrayed as too much of a monster despite his many outbursts but then this helps with the film’s charm. The audience, like the character of Richard and Welles’ many fellows, are supposed to won over by Welles’ genius and charm in spite of his faults and in this, the film succeeds. However, the constant charm on display does serve to allow the director, Richard Linklater, to serve up some bittersweet moments of reality such as Richard’s realisation of what Sonja would be willing to do to succeed in the theatre/film business and ultimately discovering Welles’ vindictiveness first hand towards the film’s conclusion. As likeable as the film is, and as effective as some moments are, and as exciting the portrayal of life on stage appears, the plot itself does follow a rather predictable course though.

While Zac Efron, the star of the popular High School Musical film series, is billed as the star of Me and Orson Welles, and his character is the lead character, the most memorable performance is that of Christian McKay as Orson Welles himself. It seems oddly fitting that, while a supporting role, McKay’s performance dominates the film much like the real Orson Welles dominated any stage, film or radio project he was involved in. While not only looking the part, McKay’s performance is very impressive and not merely a caricature of Orson Welles, he has many opportunities to play the character in quieter, out of the spotlight, scenes and still impresses. Compared to McKay, Efron leaves less of an impression. Playing a more reserved character than the roles he’s performed recently, Efron is perfectly decent at making Richard’s naivety believable but it is difficult to recall moments where he really impresses. The same can be said for Claire Danes as Sonja. Several bit parts in the film are memorable though such as James Tupper and Leo Bill as actors Joe Cotton and Norman Lloyd, and Eddie Marsan as manage John Houseman.

Overall, the plot might not be too impressive and Efron and Danes are decent though not memorable, but Me and Orson Welles is still an enjoyable film thanks to the excitement of the stage, which is portrayed well, and an excellent performance from Christian McKay as Orson Welles.

Rating: 3/5