BY LAURA SHEARER

Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry Davids is a huge let down, despite being given an undemanding role. Davids plays the same self-centred, easily annoyed old man role that has become monotonous within Allen’s films. At least with Vicky Cristina Barcelona Allen pushed himself away from this style of characterisation. Allen’s comic scripting ability is lost when the characters speak directly to the audience. By staring down the camera lens and seemingly straight at the viewer, Boris attempts to engage our interests in his miserable view on life. The rate at which he rabbits on incessantly about himself and his ideas quashes any form of response to his horrible comments. It is clear that this is Allen’s form of dark comedy, simply meant to be passively forgiven. What happened to Allen’s much loved and hilarious nonsensical situations and blathering? This is too dull to pass off as the same directing capability.

In an attempt to relive his glory days Allen rehashes his cinematic love of Manhattan. However, instead of showing lots of superbly desirable landscape shots, we are quickly whisked into the path of Boris again. Allen’s involvement with the city is fair, but he has opted for a bohemian approach. He appears to mock New York with the southern belle come photographer/artiste/mother-in-law, who undergoes an abrupt change in lifestyle after encountering the bustling city. This seems to be a bid to depict Allen’s own infatuation with New York City, but if so, he mocks himself and not in a way he would like.

The typical love affair impulse features in Boris’s affair with young runaway, Melody. This gives the film a sense of romantic idealism and confers new meaning to the film’s title. However, the main romanticism does not centre on Boris, completely isolating him from what becomes the key impulse of the film, even though it is presenting his theory on life. Ultimately, this begs the question of why Boris is our protagonist, a man of such ritual that the compassion of love is irregular to him.

If Allen had set out at the beginning that Whatever Works is a series of love filled tales, with Boris simply narrating and explaining his theory, then it would have made perfect sense. Instead, the film fails to show Boris’ theory working on a practical level, and the central idea of the film is lost by the finishing speech. Larry Davids fans might be disappointed by Whatever Works, but Woody Allen fans will feel robbed.

BY MATTHEW MCKERNAN

The film is very much a personal work, extremely well made and deeply effective. With only three exterior shots, the entire film is set inside a cramped and claustrophobic tank in which four Israeli soldiers work, sweat, eat, sleep and urinate. As they move through a war-ravaged land guided by a pitiless commander, tensions rise with the heat temperature and one by one they fall apart.

The film has been compared favourably with Wolfgang Peterson’s ‘Das Boot’. The setting of ‘Lebanon’ is much more confined than Peterson’s submarine, and unveils a much more powerful vision of the horrors of war. Maoz does not shy away from presenting some of the most harrowing images of war ever put on screen. Families, not just enemy soldiers, find themselves in the firing line. Like the film’s terrified gunner, we see the world through the crosshairs of a gun and when the orders come in to fire on the enemy or civilians, we are put right in the gunner’s place. The moral dilemma is suffocating and the film makes it clear that if we were sitting in that gunner’s place we would do the same thing.

The fim’s realistic war sequences are viewed entirely through crosshairs, inescapably reminding video game fans of the ‘Call of Duty’ series. By accident, Maoz raises questions concerning the morality of recreating war scenes as realistically as possible for the purposes of entertainment. In ‘Lebanon’, those dying are family men and women and innocents with little understanding of the war around them, and their deaths are far from swift, clean and inconsequential.

However, far from a vicious splatter-fest, Maoz is more concerned with the mentality of the four men in the tank. The film is a convincing portrait of men in crisis, bickering and clinging to no longer valid orders. The most uncomfortable sequence occurs when a captured enemy soldier, chained inside the tank, screams for help after his captors explain exactly what they plan to do to him. It is a horribly convincing image of a man in panic.

The film recently won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival and looks to be the beginning of a remarkable career for Maoz. Hopefully, unlike Elim Klinov of the equally horrific ‘Come and see’, Moaz has not said all he needs to say.

“If good men do nothing, evil will prevail”. As the tag line suggests, this is a documentary which follows the struggle of a righteous few against the actions of the oppressive state in which they live.

BY COLIN WILLIAMSON

www.queensfilmtheatre.com

Michael Campbell has owned Mount Carmel Farm in Zimbabwe since 1980, now he is fighting, along with his wife, daughter and son-in-law, to retain it against the wishes of President Robert Mugabe and his program of ‘Land Reform’.

Mugabe promised, when elected, that he would create a “Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans”, and proceeded to strip land, usually forcefully, from the white farmers under the auspices of giving it back to the native black African. What Campbell and his family are attempting to establish is that they are African too, they just happen to be white, and that what Mugabe is doing is not only immoral, but illegal.

Both the film’s opening and closing scenes take place in the court of the SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) in Namibia. The legal dimension of the struggle, the attempt to expose the blatant discriminatory nature of Mugabe’s forced evictions, provides much of the drama and suspense to this tale. As the wheels of justice turn frustratingly slowly towards the films conclusion, you find yourself gripped with hope that it is justice that will prevail, and not the diversionary tactics of Mugabe’s legal henchmen.

It is away from the courtroom where the real battle is portrayed, a battle to cling onto a way of life and indeed life itself. Whilst the film does not contain any graphic depictions of violence, eschewing a modern media obsession for ‘disaster porn’, it is almost more frightening to observe the menacing, ever-present, threat of violence that runs through the entire feature. The film is shot in two styles, with footage from both a professional crew and the personal video entries of the family themselves. It is this raw, spur of the moment filming on handheld camcorders which captures the almost unbearable degree of tension that is being endured. An early encounter between Campbell’s son-in-Law, Ben Preeth, and the would be occupier of his farm is particularly ominous.

Whilst the world was, and is, aware of the plight of the white farmer in Zimbabwe, it is sometimes overlooked that black Africans are also suffering. This documentary highlights the personal injustices and terror that is dealt out to the white man, but it also alludes to the misery of those black people who would dare to side with him. What can be gathered is that a despotic regime serves only its own purposes, despite the proclamations it may make.

This is a film which will engage you with the protagonists. You will share their fear, hope, despair and even occasional joy. And, at the films conclusion, it is difficult not to feel affected by their ultimate fate, as inevitable as it may be.

Read two reviews of ‘Up’ by Kathryn McCann and Catherine Wylie.

Pixar studios have a lot to live up to with this new release after cinematic gems such as ‘Wall-E’ and ‘Monsters, Inc’, but this expectation is more than fulfilled with the release of ‘Up’. Essentially the film follows the adventures of an old grumpy guy, an overweight, over-enthusiastic young boy-scout, a ‘talking’ dog and an exotic bird. However it would be wrong to sum up the movie in this way as it is about so much more than this. The story centres on a widowed pensioner called Carl who decides to grasp his last chance of freedom and adventure by tying balloons to his house and simply flying away, escaping both the mundane reality of his life and those coming to take him to an old people’s home. However, Carl doesn’t bargain that he has a boy-scout stowaway named Russell coming along for the ride. This results in a tale that is both laugh-out-loud and poignant in parts, reminding us through this unlikely coupling that life’s greatest adventures are those achieved through our relationships with others. (Also available in 3-D)

By Kathryn McCann

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‘Up’ encapsulates all that adults know to be sadly true of life, whilst also encouraging us to hark back to our childhoods by imagining the replacement of Air France with balloons in our chimneys. Critics raved about the opening sequence, and I wasn’t disappointed as I watched Carl and Ellie’s relationship progress from wanting a baby to old age. It’s commendable when an animation puts a viewer in the mood for love and marriage. Whilst young children may gloss over the themes of love, companionship and dreams, adults can fully appreciate the genuine closeness shared by the couple and the determination of Carl to make it to Venezuela. I particularly liked the nature of their wish to have their house right on top of Paradise Falls, and also the allusion to globalization in the construction surrounding Carl’s house. I found the dogs to be irritating at times, but overall this film made me feel all gooey inside.

By Catherine Wylie

Family, honour, betrayal, corruption, love and loss.

These are just a few of the many challenging themes running through Francis Ford Coppola’s outstanding adaption of Mario Puzo’s classic novel. The Godfather has been proclaimed by critics and movie goers alike to be the greatest film ever made. And now 37 years after its initial release, this popularity shows no sign of waning.

BY JASON GAMBLE

For the uninitiated, The Godfather is the story of aging mafia patriarch Don Vito Corleone (Brando) and his refusal to involve the family business in the ever growing drug trade. After a consequential attempt on his life, and the brutal murder of his eldest son Santino (Caan), responsibility falls to youngest brother Michael (Pacino) -a recently returned WW2 hero- to restore the Corleone’s power and honour.

The Godfather is truly a rarity in the world of cinema. For its every aspect has been ingrained into popular culture, and into our own individual consciousness whether we have indeed seen it or not. Mention the title to anyone and I can guarantee the iconic image of Marlon Brando -tuxedo clad, red rose pinned in his lapel – will be clearly evoked in their minds. Furthermore, generations young and old still positively revel in quoting that infamous line of dialogue (in their best Sicilian accent) “Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes”.

Deservedly, Brando’s portrayal of The Don earned him his 2^nd Academy Award for Best Actor. But the film’s supporting performances literally kick started the careers of James Caan, Al Pacino and Robert Duvall as the families ‘Consigliore’ (legal advisor).

In my opinion, the film’s finest component is the progressive decline in Michael’s once moral high standing. The more he comes to lose (his father, his homeland, his wife and his brother), the further he descends into the world of organised crime his father meant for him to avoid. This decline of course concludes with a spectacular montage of ordered killings, set to the backdrop of Michael being sworn in as Godfather of his sister’s child.

However, it is Coppola’s direction which excels in preventing this complex narrative from becoming stagnant. One of my favourite aspects of his work, is that nothing is ever quite as it seems in The Godfather universe. This ruse is created through the elegant panning back of the camera to slowly reveal new details, and in doing so entirely changing the initial context of the scene. This device is used on the film’s very first frame, where one could be forgiven for thinking Bonasera is addressing the audience, rather than Don Corleone. Moreover, Gordon Willis’ dark, amber tinted cinematography reflects the film’s tone perfectly, while Nino Rota’s beautiful score accentuates the sadness and melancholy felt in many scenes.

Lastly, the legacy The Godfather has created is almost as varied and fascinating as the film itself. From obvious influences in the Scorsese classics Goodfellas and The Departed, to more obscure examples in modern cinema. The least obvious but most interesting of these being Tarantino’s use of restaurant settings to build suspense. The diner scene in Pulp Fiction and the Tavern stand-off of Inglourious Basterds both subtly channel Michael’s assassination of Captain McCluskey and Sollozzo to great effect.

See it at the QFT from the 23^rd – 29^th October.

]]> http://thegown.org.uk/2009/10/21/arts-the-godfather-returns-to-the-qft/feed/ 0 http://thegown.org.uk/2009/10/17/review-500-days-of-summer/ http://thegown.org.uk/2009/10/17/review-500-days-of-summer/#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:13:17 +0000 Martin http://www.thegown.org.uk/?p=410 Continue reading →]]> What did you think of the last line? Have your say!

Deemed to be original and true to life, I found this film a massive cliché, bar a few scenes in the middle which kept me tuned in. There is nothing sadder than unrequited love, and yeah, it happens in real life and not so much in the cinema. However, I found so many aspects of the film extremely try-hard and there was such an effort to be “cool” being made the whole way through. Funny how they were both big Smiths fans, and not Britney fans (for want of a better example).

BY CATHERINE WYLIE

I didn’t find the film as original as some reviewers were making it out to be. Although it was more an anti-romantic comedy than a romantic comedy, it borrowed so many devices from its popular sister genre. Take for instance the scene in which he dances to work after having spent the night with her, the fact he has an all knowing little sister, and of course the obligatory karaoke scene – All stolen from the Romantic comedy genre.

One scene I did really like was when the screen was split in two and we could see his “expectations” and the “reality” of her house party. Also, maybe it’s just the girl in me, but I liked the fact that he wrote greeting card messages, and really liked the big scene near the end when he explodes into a rage at a meeting, and accuses all his colleagues of lying about love to the world. I felt that the filmmakers intended this scene to be key, in that it says a lot of what I think an anti-romantic comedy would want to say.

A lot of people criticized the last line of the film, deeming it to be a misjudgment on the writers’ part and too clichéd or  cringeworthy even. However, the majority of these critics liked the rest of the film and say that this line  ruins it for them. I would suggest they they are being a little hypocritical because I felt that the last line boosted my opinion of the film and  that it fitted in perfectly, plus I didn’t see it coming. Also, if they think the last line is clichéd, then maybe they should take a closer look at the film as a whole.

I wouldn’t advise you to run out and see this film immediately if you have yet to catch it. However, I would say that the last line is worth it, even for merely a bit of debate with friends!

Emma Creen

As a champion of European cinema, QFT is the only place to offer subtitled gems such as the recent ‘Broken Embraces’ and ‘Coco Before Chanel’, as well as quirky indie flicks unlikely to ever see a mainstream cinema in Belfast. It is also regularly host to screenings of resurrected classic films, from ‘Casablanca’ to ‘The Breakfast Club’. ‘But we could just get the DVD!’ you may cry. But watching something from a bygone era, in black and white and in the dark of a proper cinema, really does create an ambiance that one imagines would have existed back in the days when a now vintage film was the big release of the year. Now there’s something you would never get with an upgrade to a large popcorn combo for an extra 30p…