Bille

Bille 2018

• Directors: Inara Kolmane
• Based on autobiographical novel by Nobel prize nominee Vizma Belsevica
• Cast: Ruta Kronberga, Elna Vane, Arturs Skrastins
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Arturs Skrastins – Wallander
• Why? Gift from our dear friend AZ
• Seen: 26 January 2020      

       Bille (Kronberga), about six or seven years old, lives with her parents (Vane and Skrastins) in pre-WWII Riga. Her father is loving but drinks. Her mother suffers from ‘nerves’ and can’t work. The parents fight a lot and Bille dreams of them all being happy and loving each other. When she feels especially rejected and neglected, she runs off with some neighbour kids to find Dreamland. They don’t get there, and they straggle home.

       And Bille’s life straggles on. Politics hover: the Germans leave the country, including Bille’s little neighbour girl, a friend.

       It’s a subdued film with everyday struggles and hurts and humiliations and hopes and dreams. Kronberga is a real star as Bille. All the acting is first rate. Do try to find and see this film.

5 * of 5.   

The Thirteenth Tale

The Thirteenth Tale 2013

• Director: James Kent
• Based on the book by Diane Setterfield
• Cast: Olivia Colman, Vanessa Redgrave, Emily Beecham, Antonia Clarke, Tom Goodman-Hill, Stephen Mackintosh, Madeleine Power, Robert Pugh, Alexandra Roach, Sophie Turner
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Olivia Colman – Murder on the Orient Express, Broadchurch, The Night Manager, Doctor Who, Hot Fuzz, Much Ado About Nothing Re-Told, Black Books
• Vanessa Redgrave – The Butler, Song for Marion, Coriolanus, Atonement, The Pledge, Girl Interrupted, Cradle Will Rock, Lulu on the Bridge, Mrs Dalloway, Wilde, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Howards End, The Ballad of the Sad Café, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Prick Up Your Ears, Playing for Time, Julia, Out of Season,  The Devils, Oh What a Lovely War, Isadora, Camelot, Blow-Up, A Man for All Seasons
• Emily Beecham – Hail Caesar, Merlin, 28 Weeks Later
• Tom Goodman-Hill – Humans, The Imitation Game, The Hollow Crown, Case Histories, Glorious 39, Hustle, Doctor Who, Gideon’s Daughter, The Office
• Stephen Mackintosh – Our Mutual Friends, Twelfth Night, Karaoke, Prick Up Your Ears
• Robert Pugh – The Hollow Crown, Doctor Who, Robin Hood, The Ghost Writer, Kinky Boots, Kingdom of Heaven, Hustle, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain
• Alexandra Roach – Testament of Youth, One Chance
• Why? Olivia Colman
• Seen: 25 January 2020      

       Vida Winter (Redgrave) is the author of many very successful novels. She asks biographer Margaret Lee (Colman) to write her biography. Reluctantly Margaret agrees because Vida is dying, and intriguing.

       Vida’s story is bizarre. It seems she’s one of a pair of twins who grow up wild, with no supervision. As Vida relates her grim tale, Margaret is forced to face her own demons.

       There is a ghost (maybe), mental illness, depravity, an old mansion in ruins, probably a murder or two, and some scary moments.

       Colman and Redgrave are excellent as always, but it is, after all, just a tale, captivating but not terribly realistic.

3 ½* of 5

Annihilation

Annihilation 2018

• Director: Alex Garland
• Based on the book by Jeff Vandermeer
• Cast: Natalie Portman, Benedict Wong, Sonoyo Mizuno, David Gyasi, Oscar Isaac, John Schwab, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Natalie Portman – Thor, I’m Still Here, Black Swan, The Other Boleyn Girl, Darjeeling Limited, Paris je t’aime, V for Vendetta, Star Wars, Closer, Anywhere but Here, Mars Attacks, Beautiful Girls, Heat, Léon
• Benedict Wong – The Martian, Prometheus, Sunshine, Tristram Shandy, Dirty Pretty Things
• Sonoya Mizuno – La La Land, Ex Machina
• David Gyasi – Interstellar, Cloud Atlas, Doctor Who, The Dark Knight Rises
• Oscar Isaac – Star Wars, Ex Machina, Inside Llewyn Davis, Robin Hood
• Jennifer Jason Leigh – Margot at the Wedding, Road to Perdition, eXistenZ, A Thousand Acres, Kansas City, Georgia, Dolores Claiborne, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Tuva Novotny – Jalla! Jalla!
• Why? The book
• Seen: 24 January 2020      

       We read the book this week and liked it a lot. The film got from 1* to 10* on IMDb. One thing for sure – the film has to be different from the book.

       Yapp. Very different, but let’s just watch the film now.

       Biologist Lena (Portman) believes she is a widow because her husband Kane (Isaac) has been gone a year but then he comes back. He’s very changed, remembers almost nothing, barely recognises her. He becomes very ill. Lena is taken by the military and questioned extensively.

       She joins a mission into the mysterious Area X. Aliens? Ecological disaster? Expeditions are sent and never come back. And it’s spreading.

       With her are four other women, all scientists. In they go.

       While reading we saw similarities to Stalker and Solaris. Here too. Bur never mind. This is weird in its own way. Weird and inexplicable, unexplained, visually stunning and fascinating. As good in its own way as the book.

4 * of 5

PS - I wonder if those who gave it a bad rating had trouble accepting women as the major characters in a philosophical sci fi action film?

I, Daniel Blake

I, Daniel Blake 2016

• Directors: Ken Loach and Laura Obiols
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Briana Shann, Dylan McKiernan, Kate Rutter, Sharon Percy
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Briana Shann – Doctor Who
• Kate Rutter – The Railway Man, The Full Monty
• Sharon Percy – Billy Elliot
• Why? Ken Loach
• Seen: 19 January 2020      

       Widower Daniel Blake (Johns), a construction worker, is on sick leave after a heart attack. His doctor won’t let him work but he’s turned down for sick benefits. Frustrated by bureaucracy and internet, he meets Kate, an unemployed young mother with two kids) at the social benefits office where she too is being stonewalled by ever-so-polite but adamantly rule-following staff.

       They become friends and continue to get the run-around everywhere they tuen but they help each other and get help from others so they carry on.

       It’s Ken Loach so it’s social realism, warm, deeply humanistic. Each and every day everyday obstacles make life difficult in a cold society that seems to actively want to crush the individual. Legacy of Thatcher, global neo-liberalism, the widespread sell-out of the public sector.

       Realist. Depressing. And a very good film.

5 * of 5.   

The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower 2017

• Director: Nikolaj Arcel
• Based on books by Stephen King
• Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Idris Elba –The Mountain Between Us, Molly’s Game, Prometheus, Thor, 28 Weeks Later, The Wire, Crocodile Shoes, Absolutely Fabulous
• Matthew McConaughey – Interstellar, The Lincoln Lawyer, EDtv, Amistad, Contact
• Abbey Lee – Mad Max Fury Road
• Why? Idris Elba
• Seen: 18 January 2020      

       Unexplained earthquakes in New York. Young Jake (Taylor) has nightmares about a tower. He says the earthquakes are because the tower is under attack. Darkness and fire will come if the tower collapses. His parents and psychiatrist and everyone else think he’s crazy.

       Roland (Elba) is a gunslinger. Walter (McConaughey) is the evil Man in Black is determined to destroy the tower. Jake narrowly escapes the child snatchers and ends up in the world of his nightmare.

       It sounds a bit silly but actually it’s exciting. Jake is given much more character here than in the book (I’ve only read the first one) which is a wise choice. Sorry, Stephen King, I enjoy your books but this film is better than your Tower books. But the shooting gets boring.

3* of 5.

  

Velvet Goldmine

Velvet Goldmine 1998

• Director: Todd Haynes
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Ewan MacGregor, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Toni Collette, Christian Bale, Eddie Izzard, Emily Woof, Michael Feast
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ewan MacGregor – Trainspotting 2,Our Kind of Traitor, Mortdecai, August Osage County, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Impossible, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Perfect Sense, The Ghost Writer, The Island, Star Wars, Big Fish, Young Adam, Moulin Rouge, Little Voice, A Life Less Ordinary, Brassed Off, Trainspotting, Shallow Grave
• Jonathan Rhys Meyer – Bend It Like Beckham, Titus, Michael Collins
• Toni Collette – Hereditary, A Long Way Down, Imperium, Mental, Fright Night, The Dead Girl, Little Miss Sunshine, In Her Shoes, The Hours, About a Boy, Changing Lanes, Hotel Splendide, Muriel’s Wedding
• Christian Bale – The Batman Trilogy, Public Enemies, Terminator Salvation, The Prestige, Eqiulibrium, American Psycho, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Little Women, The Prince of Jylland, Swing Kids, Henry V
• Eddie Izzard – Victoria and Abdul, Valkyria, Across the Universe, Romance & Cigarettes
• Emily Woof – The Full Monty, Middlemarch
• Michael Feast – Sleepy Hollow
• Why? The cast
• Seen: Once before. Now 17 January 2020      

       Brian Slade (Rhys Meyers) is a glam rock star. Arthur (Bale) is a fanatic fan in the audience at the Lyceum in London when Slade (who had predicted it) is assassinated on stage. But it’s a hoax.

       Ten years later Arthur is a journalist in New York and asked by his boss to make a program about it. He remembers.

       You remember, right? Glitter, shiny, wild clothing, androgynous, bi-sexual, gay, make-up. Glam.

       Arthur researches the story behind Brian Slade and finds the history of glam rock and its rival, garage rock in the form of Curt Wild (MacGregor). It’s all very glamourous, decadent, sleazy, cynical, money-making and sad.

       The film is very artistic and surrealistic, more interesting than emotionally captivating, more puzzling than provocative. The first time we saw this I don’t think we’d ever seen these fabulous actors but no wonder I found the film so strong then. I don’t know which one is best here, MacGregor, Bale or Collette.

       How sad and grim is the world of glamour.

4 * of 5 (Hal says 2 ½ *)

Under the Silver Lake

Under the Silver Lake 2018

• Director: David Robert Mitchell
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough (Elvis Presley’s granddaughter!), and a million others
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Andrew Garfield – Breathe, Never Let Me Go, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Boy A, Doctor Who
• Riley Keough – Mad Max Fury Road, The Runaways
• Why? Andrew Garfield
• Seen: 12 January 2020      

       Sam (Garfield) is a lying, smoking, drinking voyeuristic drifter living in a luxury apartment in LA, about to be evicted for not paying his rent. He’s intrigued by the ‘Under the Silver Lake’ comic books, secret subliminal codes, and a mysterious lovely neighbour Sarah (Keough). Sarah disappears, dogs are being murdered, cars are being vandalised. The TV has reports of a missing billionaire who turns up dead.

       Connection? It’s a long time coming.

       Is this intellectually, artistically and symbolically profound and I’m not clever enough to get it? Or is it a pretentious, juvenile, ‘I’m-so-cool-and-hallucinatory’ twelve-year-old boy’s wet dream? I can’t decide.

       It’s fun to see Garfield - who I’ve only seen in rather straight, earnest, good guy roles -play such a creepy loser.

       I don’t like it but there’s something oddly fascinating about it, so it gets a few stars.

2 ½ * of 5

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany’s 1961

• Director: Blake Edwards
• Based on the book by Truman Capote
• Cast: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, John McGiver, Mickey Rooney
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Audrey Hepburn – Wait Until Dark, My Fair Lady, Charade, The Unforgiven, The Nun’s Story, Green Mansions
• George Peppard – probably something but he’s too unrememberable to remember
• Patricia Neal - The Day the Earth Stood Still
• Buddy Ebsen – The Beverly Hillbillies
• Martin Balsam – probably a lot of films and series in the 60s
• John McGiver - ditto
• Mickey Rooney – ditto
• Why? Audrey Hepburn
• Seen: Once or twice before. Now11 January 2020 with Hal and YW in our read-book-see-film group

             None of us were especially fond of the book but I remember liking the film and Audrey Hepburn is always worthing watching.

       However, it starts out very annoying. I don’t like films about failed (and then successful) authors and vulnerable beautiful young women who manipulate rich men but have a heart of gold and troublesome past. And I hate parties. This one goes on forever. Mickey Rooney is absolutely appalling in this racist and ridiculous role as a Japanese artist. George Peppard is so generically handsome that he might as well be made of plastic. Zero charisma.

       Then the film takes an unexpected turn. There’s more substance to Holly Golightly than the beginning indicates. The costumes and settings are outstanding and the attention to the variety of oddball extras is great fun. The taxis are very cool. And the cat of course. Poor Cat.

3* of 5. Hal liked it and gave it 4 ½ *. YW had to leave early and has not seen the ending so her rating will have to wait.

2T Trainspotting 2

2T Trainspotting 2 (2017)

• Director: Danny Boyle
• Based on the book by Irvine Welsh
• Cast: Ewan MacGregor, Ewen Bremner, Johnny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Peter Mullen, Shirley Henderson, Steven Robertson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ewan MacGregor – Our Kind of Traitor, Mortdecai, August Osage County, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Impossible, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Perfect Sense, The Ghost Writer, The Island, Star Wars, Big Fish, Young Adam, Moulin Rouge, Little Voice, Velvet Goldmine, A Life Less Ordinary, Brassed Off, Trainspotting, Shallow Grave
• Ewen Bremner – Wonder Woman, Snowpiercer, Jack the Giant Slayer, Perfect Sense, Hallam Foe, The Prince of Jylland
• Robert Carlyle – SGU Stargate Universe, Stone of Destiny, 28 Weeks Later, Flood, Black and White, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, The Full Monty, Carla’s Song, Go Now, Riff-Raff, Hamish Macbeth
• Kelly Macdonald – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Decoy Bride, No Country for Old Men, Nanny McPhee, Tristram Shandy, Intermission, The Girl in the Café, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Finding Neverland, Intermission, Gosford Park, My Life So Far, Elizabeth
• Shirley Henderson – Filth, Life During Wartime, Doctor Who, The Taming of the Shrew Re-told, Harry Potter, Tristram Shandy, Intermission, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, Topsy-Turvy, Hamish Macbeth, Rob Roy
• Steven Robertson – Doctor Who, Bletchley Circle, The Tourist, Brighton Rock, Hustle, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Kingdom of Heaven
• Why? Guess
• Seen: 5 January 2020      

       Some liked this and thought it a worthy sequel. Others hated it and thought it was a total waste. Who to believe?

       Twenty years later. Renton collapses on a running machine. Begbie is in prison. Spud is still a junkie. Sick Boy, now Simon, is a blackmailer, pimp and coke head.

       Some reunions should never happen. But fortunately, this film happened. Could it even be better than the first one? Renton’s monolog on ‘Choose life’ is heart rendering. The artistic vignettes behind the closing credits are incredibly beautiful. The whole film is a masterpiece, no matter what the critics say.

4 ½ * of 5

Trainspotting

Trainspotting 1996

• Director: Danny Boyle
• Based on the book by Irvine Welsh
• Cast: Ewan MacGregor, Ewen Bremner, Johnny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Peter Mullen, Shirley Henderson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ewan MacGregor – Our Kind of Traitor, Mortdecai, August Osage County, Jack the Giant Slayer, The Impossible, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Perfect Sense, The Ghost Writer, The Island, Star Wars, Big Fish, Young Adam, Moulin Rouge, Little Voice, Velvet Goldmine, A Life Less Ordinary, Brassed Off, Trainspotting, Shallow Grave
• Ewen Bremner – Wonder Woman, Snowpiercer, Jack the Giant Slayer, Perfect Sense, Hallam Foe, The Prince of Jylland
• Robert Carlyle – SGU Stargate Universe, Stone of Destiny, 28 Weeks Later, Flood, Black and White, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, The Full Monty, Carla’s Song, Go Now, Riff-Raff, Hamish Macbeth
• Kelly Macdonald – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Decoy Bride, No Country for Old Men, Nanny McPhee, Tristram Shandy, Intermission, The Girl in the Café, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Finding Neverland, Intermission, Gosford Park, My Life So Far, Elizabeth
• Peter Mullen – Sunshine on Leith, Top of the Lake, The Liability, Tyrannosaur, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Stone of Destiny, Boy A, Children of Men, Young Adam, The Magdalena Sisters, My Name Is Joe, Braveheart, Shallow Grave, Riff-Raff
• Shirley Henderson – Filth, Life During Wartime, Doctor Who, The Taming of the Shrew Re-told, Harry Potter, Tristram Shandy, Intermission, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, Topsy-Turvy, Hamish Macbeth, Rob Roy
• Why? Well, it’s a classic now, isn’t it?
• Seen: Once or twice before. Now 4 January 2020

             Oh, they’re so young, all these actors who are (nowadays) big film stars!

       Mark Renton (McGregor) is a heroin addict. He loves the feeling but in a moment of clarity (well, sort of) he quits cold turkey.

       He has a gang of equally loser mates, all addicted to something. For example, Begbie (Carlyle) is addicted to violence. And Sick Boy (Miller), is addicted to James Bond.

       And then Renton becomes addicted to Diane (Macdonald).

       Young men and women of Scotland in the 90’s, searching, groping, longing, losing. It doesn’t take long for Renton to return to heroin.

       It’s revolting, absurd, funny and tragic and rather incredible. No wonder it’s a classic.

4 * of 5 (Hal says 3*)

Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof 1971

• Director: Norman Jewison
• Based on stories by Sholom Aleichem
• Cast: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, Neva Small, Paul Michael Glaser, Ray Lovelock, Louis Zorich
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Norma Crane – various TV series in the 60s
• Leonard Frey – Mary Tyler Moore Show, Tell Me that You Love Me Junie Moon
• Why? An old favourite
• Seen: Four or five times before. Now 3 January 2020

             Why is this a favourite? Briefly: it’s a musical, the songs are great and the lyrics clever. It’s history. There’s even a little revolution. What more could one ask? Well, a lot less religion would be nice but it’s relatively inoffensive.

      

6 * of 7 (Hal says 4* of 5).