Matching Curtains

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Based upon the 2004 book of the same title by Jon Ronson, The Men Who Stare at Goats boasts an impressive cast. Ewan Mcgregor plays Bob Wilton, a reporter investigating the US army's adoption of new age concepts and exploration of the paranormal, following the development of these activities post-Vietnam and in post-war Iraq. George Clooney, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey also star as army officers involved in these techniques, in what seems to be an absurdist satire on war.

We are told at the beginning that more of the movie is true than we would believe - including the concept that one can kill a goat through the forces of their mind alone - and given the context within which this is set, I'm inclined to believe this statement. The film is set up as a Coen brothers style farce, aided by its distinctive advertising and presence of a crazed but charismatic George Clooney, and is really very funny. However, though it had most of the cinema laughing it wasn't as surreal as it purports to be and is, I think, coasting on the talents of its stars for the latter half of the movie. In addition to a goofy Clooney, we have Bridges as a stoned hippy officer teaching troops to smell flowers and dance, Spacey in his usual prissy, uptight and evil mode, and McGregor as a very empathetic and likeable straight guy. Clooney and McGregor have great chemistry and share some particularly amusing slapstick moments, and are surely the main reason why this film is showing so widely. Because, the charm of the leads aside, this is an odd film. Director Grant Heslov fails to scale the heights of the Coen brothers, whom he's clearly trying to ape, and at a neat hour and a half the movie seemed much longer, as the script slackens towards the end. The anti-war premise also seemed to get a bit lost, as we get pulled into various surreal yet half-arsed cul de sacs, but for all these flaws The Men Who Stare at Goats is still an entertaining movie which yet again allows George Clooney to showcase his  excellent comedic timing. Oh - and there is some hilarious (if obvious) physical comedy.

I wouldn't urge people to see this at a Multiplex - or even their local indie - but it's definitely one to rent. Quirky, messy, but well intentioned and engaging enough.

Har Mar Superstar - Dark Touches

Can you believe it's been a long five years since our old friend Har Mar released his last album? No, me neither. I've played The Handler over and over without getting bored and in the process, turned other people onto the lure of the rotund and horny one.

I was really excited about Mr Superstar's latest output, though admittedly worried I'd set the stakes too high. Could he improve on the likes of 'Back The Camel Up' and 'Body Request'? YES, YES, YES (think Meg Ryan in that cafe scene)! Dark Touches brings us yet more sticky beats and retro disco/funk, all smothered in a big helping of the usual lyrical randiness and silky smooth vocals we've come to expect from the most profane man in pop. 

With his aping of Ron 'Porn Star' Jeremy, it would be easy to dismiss Har Mar Superstar as a novelty act - another Mike Flowers type who best belongs on The Mighty Boosh line up - if it weren't for his way of creating gloriously undiluted pop. From the Jackson 5 style 'Dope, Man' to the tongue in cheek 'Gangsters Want to Cuddle Me', each song demands to be danced to. 'Creative Juices' wouldn't be out of place on a Justin Timberlake album - indeed, I recently posted something on Facebook telling all my 'Friends' (whatever that means) that perfect equilibrium would be restored to the world were Har Mar to write for Mr JT. I also hear that a certain Ms Spears turned down 'Tallboy'. Silly girl. Clearly not in her right mind ... Still, Britney's loss is Mr Superstar's gain, as the video for said song features a bevy of beauties including Eva Mendes. Check it out below, and I bet you won't be able to resist ...

Julie & Julia

It's taken a while for me to get around to this one. I'm sure by now you all know that Julie & Julia entwines the story of how American cookery legend Julia Child discovered the joys of the kitchen with blogger Julie Powell's challenge to herself to cook all the recipes in Child's first book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, over the course of a year.

 

Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, who we last saw together in the austere Doubt, play Julia and Julie respectively. They don't share any screen time but the challenges and triumphs of their characters are woven together in such a way that we never get bored with either story - even if I did find Streep's imitation of Child's famously warbly voice deeply irritating. This aside, I found the movie very charming and feelgood, in the way that all Nora Ephron's projects are. Granted this is no classic, but it does boast performances from two of cinema's finest actresses. Streep is predictably impressive as the indomitable Child, conveying the force of her personality and spirit but also her vulnerability. The movie alludes to her sadness at her childlessness, and need to find fulfilment as she travels across Europe with her US diplomat husband Paul (played by Stanley Tucci, who it's always a pleasure to see). Streep channels the pleasure Child took in her craft whilst still demonstrating the irreverence of the amateur which won Child so many fans, and I'm sure American audiences enjoyed her performance even more than I did, growing up with Child as they did. Adams got the less engaging character in my view. Though I empathised with Julie and felt the film's portrayal of her need for fulfilment was successful in mirroring that of her idol, her character seemed a little too saccharine and downtrodden to be truly credible. When a friend recently told me Julie was actually having an affair during her courdon bleu challenge, I couldn't help wondering why it wasn't featured - it would have made things a little more interesting! Nonetheless, Adams is as likeable as always and yet again proves she's a shapeshifting actress - compare her appearance to that in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and you will see what I mean. The lady has range!

 

Julie & Julia is an unashamed chick flick which should come with the warning that it will make you both very hungry and willing to take on all manner of ridiculous recipes. As light and fluffy as one of Child's meringues, it won't change the world, but it will entertain you.

An Education

Based upon Observer journo Lynn Barber's memoirs, An Education is the story of Jenny (newcomer Carey Mulligan), a 16 year old ingenue living in suburban Twickenham with her middle class, socially aspiring parents and working hard at her A Levels to reach the holy grail: Oxford. Her well meaning but domineering father (a comical Alfred Molina, combining warmth and conservatism in equal measure) and slightly wistful housewife mother (Cara Seymour, American Psycho, Adaptation) are set on their daughter's academic success. When we meet them their main concerns are Jenny's average performance in Latin and her gauche would-be suitor Graham, who makes the fatal mistake of telling them he wants to take a year out before university. Enter thirty-something David (Peter Sarsgaard), a mysterious man who woos first Jenny with nightclubs and classical music concerts and then her parents, who seem aware of the limited options available to women in pre-swinging sixties England and quite happy to let a much older man court their daughter (I hesitate to say 'groom'), if it will offer her the comfortable life they want for her. David spirits Jenny away to first Oxford and then her much-loved Paris, accompanied by his friend Danny (Dominic Cooper - Starter for 10) and Danny's girlfriend, during which Jenny's cosseted middle class existence is stripped away and she is exposed to her older lover's criminal activity. As the film goes on, we are left wondering just what else he is hiding and suddenly, Jenny's parents' worries about Latin become immaterial.

This is not to say that Jenny is a victim - she makes her own decisions and is never cowed by David. There are moments where their relationship - particularly when it takes a sexual turn - could seem sleazy, but there's a lightness about the film which beguiles the audience as easily as David beguiles Jenny and her parents, and avoids becoming darker. Their relationship is portrayed as a romance rather than anything more sinister, which is unusual and keeps the audience on its toes. We're never quite sure how things are going to end. Mulligan herself has received much praise and she is indeed a fresh and appealing screen presence, a more mainstream Samantha Morton if you will. Her transition from a precocious, French spouting, Jeanette Greco loving teenager to a pragmatic young woman is nuanced and captivating (even if the way the film's ending is wrapped up tips into cliche). Sarsgaard is also exceptional in a difficult role. He and Mulligan have great chemistry and - if I can get technical for a minute - he pretty much nails the English accent. His boyish, affable demeanour is well chosen - his character is a predator and a coward, we later find out, but one whom we are gulled by too, for at least part of the movie. Also notable is Rosmund Pike (Pride and Prejudice) in a rare comic turn as Helen, Danny's dimwitted but glamourous girlfriend and Olivia Williams (Rushmore), as Jenny's concerned English teacher.

Director Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners) does a great job; I particularly liked the switch to French New Wave filming when in Paris and the important but skillfully unobtrusive period detail, such as the whisks in Jenny's cookery class or the ornaments in her parent's sitting room. Nick Hornby's screenplay had a similarly easy feel, combining a particularly English mix of wit and pathos. This is a coming-of-age film about one girl's understanding of the world and the value of education, which spotlights the difficulty of reconciling the messiness of life with the certainties (and perhaps the occasional dullness) of academia. It is also a sensitive social observation which - interestingly - offers no criticism of Jenny's parents. They want what is best for her, and though the intimation that a woman's education was secondary to marriage is ridiculous today, we do feel their pain at trying to ensure their child has every advantage she can. Yes they are naive and succumb to the manipulative David, but the film treats them with understanding rather than ridicule, which is refreshing when cinema so often satirises the middle class.

I really enjoyed An Education, much more than I thought I would to be honest, and really recommend it. Superlative performances and a top notch script make it perfect for a blustery winter night's movie.

Stornoway on Jools Holland

Local Oxford band Stornoway (they've never visited) were on Jools Holland last week and gave a cracking performance of my favourite track of theirs, Zorbing (it's a sport invented in New Zealand folks, which involves rolling down hills in a big transparent sphere).

If you've not heard of them before check out their Myspace page, on which they introduce themselves with this opening gambit:

'The band consists of an ornithologist, a rusty russian translator, and a South African brotherhood. They were first united in a snow-encrusted garage in Oxford, where they instantly attracted the attention of Dr & Mrs Killjoy the neighbours.'

Intrigued? You should be. Enjoy Zorbing!

Skin

Skin tells the true story of Sandra Laing (played affectingly in childhood by Ella Ramangwane and Sophie Okonedo as an adult), a black woman born to white parents in apartheid-era South Africa. Which, as you can imagine, didn't go down well. Sam Neill and Alice Kreig star as Abraham and Sannie, Sandra's parents. Sannie denies that she had an affair with a black man and when Sandra's younger brother is born, looking like Abraham but sharing his sister's darker complexion and curly hair, her story would seem to bear out. 

Both Abraham and Sannie were vehement racists and supporters of the apartheid system - Abraham, the more virulently racist of the pair, is shown refusing even to touch the hands of the blacks who patronise his shop - and it is through the life of this family that we are given an insight into the devastating consequences of apartheid. Abraham refused to see his daughter as anything other than white, battling to get her legally reclassified as such. The couple are seen taking the matter to court, with support from doctors who testified to Sandra's polygenic inheritance and the veracity of Abraham's claim to be her biological father. One shocking scene shows the extent to which  this affects the tormented Sandra, as she tries to bleach her own skin.

The film later shows Sandra's love affair with a black man, Petrus (Tony Kgoroge), after a series of excruciating dates with dull or frankly repellent white men orchestrated by her parents. The affair was to be the undoing of her relationship with Abraham and Sannie, whose innate bigotry and racism led to them disowning their daughter and her subsequent battle to reclassify herself as coloured, in order to live legally with her husband and children. The film ends with Sandra leaving the increasingly violent Petrus, whose alcohol abuse and resentment of his wife's white heritage threaten to crush her spirit. She reunites with her by then aged, ailing mother and we see her vote in the first free elections, but this is a phyrric victory to say the least - Sandra is presented as someone who has never felt she belonged to either whites or blacks, who has lost both her parents and sense of firm identity by virtue of being born in the wrong time. Her struggle to find a place where she feels belonging is at the emotional heart of this deeply moving story.

The verbal abuse and stares levelled at the young Sandra are shocking to witness and it's perhaps hard for a modern audience to truly appreciate the level of racism perpetrated by white South Africans at the time - we live in a world with a bi-racial President after all. However the force her story carries today is powerful and reminds us clearly of the putrifying, corrosive nature of racism and bigotry, which still have the insidious power to infect our world. Nowhere is this clearer than in Sam Neill's brilliantly complex portrayal of Abraham. One scene depicts him lovingly applying skin lightening cream to his daughter's face, in a revolting demonstration of his ingrained racism which nonetheless still presents him as a loving father. Likewise, we are not given the 'happy' ending we expect from Sannie. If this were fiction, perhaps she would abandon her husband's cruelties for the sake of her daughter, but we are dealing with real people after all and she doesn't act in ways we would wish her too, despite her obvious love for Sandra. Sannie and Abraham's relationship and the fragile trust between them is an acting masterclass from Neill and Kreig, but it is Okenedo - herself of mixed race and perhaps someone who has experienced racism firsthand - who steals the show. Her accent may falter at times, but this is immaterial as we watch her emote for one hundred percent of her screen time. Sandra's experiences are so raw and so real, lacking the histrionics one expects of biopics of this nature, that they actually hit us in the gut more forcibly as a result. I was in floods of tears by the end of this movie and Okenedo is in no small part responsible for this. Sandra's story would be moving no matter who was portraying it, but Okenedo makes us feel she is Sandra; she picks up beautifully from where the appealing Ramangwane leaves off and conveys strength and tenacity ('Never give up'), but also timidity in her shy and hunched posture. She is particularly good when playing the teenage Sandra, conveying a typical teenage resentment which is compounded by her frustrating situation.

This is a movie about race and identity, humanity, and the enduring quality of one woman's spirit. Through Sandra's narrative we are given a personalised, deeply moving history lesson which will not be forgotten. Anthony Fabian's direction implicitly knows that less is more and that this is a performance-led piece, so thankfully he omits any manipulative scores and allows his characters to condemn themselves without a heavy-handed script or lecture. I gather that some liberties may have been taken in the treatment of the reunion between Sandra and her mother, and that perhaps there was less of a resolution in reality than was depicted on screen, but can't criticise the film for this as on the whole it feels very respectful.

Skin is real in a way not many movies are, and is perhaps the finest example of independent film making I've seen in a while. This is story which needed to be told and which, in the hands of Fabian, is told well. I hope that Sandra Laing herself, still alive and living in Dalprak, Gauteng province, is happy with the final result. Though she serves as a personal and powerful indictment of South Africa's bloody past, Fabian is careful not to mythologise her - this is a woman who has endured and survived, and wishes to live quietly, not be a spokesperson for her generation.

Moving, politically aware and sophisticated film-making with superior performances all round - I highly recommend this movie.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Filmknitter and I were delighted to catch Terry Gilliam's latest movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus on the big screen last week and though the film is at times as messy as we've come to expect from Gilliam, with some scenes feeling a little laboured or too long, it is, on the whole, a very enjoyable experience. With the best effects and CGI utilised by its director to date, the movie is visually stunning and totally befitting of the plot's fairy tale flourishes.

The 'Imaginarium' is a magical, scruffily made mirror which forms part of Doctor Parnassus' Victorian-style travelling theatre. It grants all who walk through it entry to the landscape of their imagination - and that of Parnassus'. However, even in this wonderland the Devil is never far away, lodging in a 50s style American diner and just waiting to acquire another victim ...

Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole, actually rather convincing as an actor), midget Percy (Verne Troyer, or Mini Me as we're all more likely to recognise him) and waif Anton (a munchable Andrew Garfield) live aboard the doctor's three tier charabanc and journey along the modern River Thames performing to people who are either drunk and abusive or aren't really interested. Clad in medieval- looking theatre garb, they are, it's fair to say, totally out of step with the world they inhabit. Parnassus is a bit of a Lear-style character, a former monk on the run from the Devil, played with grizzly aplomb by the imicable Tom Waits, sporting a pork pie hat and raffish tache. Parnassus, silly old fool that he is, made a pact with the Devil for immortality on the proviso that he relinquish his daughter to his nemesis upon her 16th birthday. With Valentina's birthday imminent Parnassus is desperate to save his daughter and, against the advice of the sage wee Percy, makes another bet with old Nick that the first to garner five souls will win Valentina. Will he never learn?! Enter Tony Liar (Heath Ledger), a mysterious stranger who apparently knows nothing about how he came to be found hanging by a noose over the Thames and is not what he seems. Valentina instantly falls for Tony's oily charms, much to her ardent suitor Anton's dismay, and he sets about trying to trip up his rival. Only when the pair enter the Imaginarium is Tony gradually exposed for what he is and the battle for Valetina's safety escalates.

Obviously the mainstream interest in this movie is due to Ledger's death and it is undeniably disturbing to see him hanging and taken for dead in his first scene. He showcases the same comic flair that was present in his last teaming with Gilliam, The Brothers Grimm, and we see much more of him than the press would have had us believe, as he'd shot all bar the Imaginarium scenes. However his character is more of a catalyst than central protagonist - the story is unequivocally an ensemble effort and Tony is just one manifestation of the evil Parnassus is doing battle with. In the weird other world of the Imaginarium it makes a strange kind of sense that Tony would look different as his nasty truth is exposed and it's to Gilliam's credit that it's hard to imagine the movie without Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell (in that order) taking on Tony's character whilst in there. In our first foray into the Imaginarium with Tony, masked as he was outside, I suspect most of the audience did double-takes when the mask is removed to reveal Depp, clad in the same clothing and looking rather like Ledger, dancing on lily pads - the two have remarkably similar features. When Law and then Farrall take over the part, each revealing more and more sliminess (well cast, no?!), Tony's appearance moves further and further away from the fine features of Ledger and Depp to the heavy, swarthier Farrall and this is very effective.

The Imaginarium scenes are in contrast to the mundane contemporary world outside, vibrant and Dali-esque. The individual's experience within it results in either pleasure or fear as they come face to face with the physical manifestation of their psyche. It also enhances the clash of good versus evil which defines the story. There are some truly memorable scenes: one sequence in particular features the beautiful Lily Cole in full-on Jessica Rabbit mode smashing fragments of floating glass (the entrance to the Imaginarium) against a deep black background, the ground beneath her splintering. There are also Monty Python-style sketches worked in, such as policemen singing and dancing in skirts and heels, which pepper the film with some very comical twists, but melancholy is never far away. During Depp's tenure in the Imaginarium rivers weave their way around him, Tim Burton style, with small gondolas bearing pictures of celebrities dead before their time. When he eulogises that 'They are forever young, they won’t grow old', we wonder if this is a tribute of sorts to Ledger. This might sound a bit saccharine or forced but it has the uncanny effect of slotting neatly into the film's other main theme, the weight of immortality. The burden that Parnassus is saddled with comes at great cost; in the modern world there is no place for his whimsy. Perhaps this is how Gilliam also feels about Hollywood, although at least for this movie he got a decent enough budget, something which has eluded his ambitions in the past.

Though outside events will garner a much wider interest in this collision of fantasy and mundanity than the more select crowd Gilliam normally draws, the story is - although labyrinthine - much less odd than one would think. There are winning performances all round, but it is the boyish Garfield and droll Waits who are most memorable, both playing fairy tale archetypes with a modern twist. It is too long, yes, but nonetheless entrancing. A film about the power of the imagination, to which Gilliam's original story and dexterity in working around Ledger's untimely death are perfect testament.

Fleetwood Mac - Dreams

Happy weekend, folks. Am having a bit of a Fleetwood Mac moment (did I ever tell you I was named after Lindsey Buckingham? Yes, I know he's a man. But maybe my folks felt it would be less confusing than Stevie?!).

May the marvellous original of this classic song banish the Corrs travesty.

Fantastic Mr Fox

This weekend I sampled the new cinema in Witney, a wee market town a few miles west of Oxford. It's about time Witney had a decent cinema and I'm pleased to report that the first movie I saw there was very enjoyable indeed.

Fantastic Mr Fox has all the hallmarks of a Wes Anderson film: dysfunctional families and their foibles, themes of being different, and a robust and unapologetic retro quality, this time courtesy of handmade, stop-motion puppetry. Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzmann and Owen Wilson - all Anderson regulars - are present and correct to greater and lesser degrees. Only this time, they're providing vocal duties to animal characters based on the wonderful Roald Dahl story of the same name. Oh what fun it is. 

Starring George Clooney doing a deliciously dapper Mr Fox and Meryl Streep as the long suffering Mrs Fox, the all-star cast do a great job of bringing the characters to life, the animals' lives a furry version of reality with the titular hero doing his best to outsmart the mean farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean, who shot his tail off and are determined to see him dead. The underfox against the Man, if you like. The farmers are all English, led by Michael Gambon as a particularly malicious Farmer Bean, whereas the animals - the good guys - are all Americans. Much has been made of this but it didn't bother me at all - how could it when the vocal performances were spot on? And there's nothing like a posh English accent to suggest the haves and haves nots ...

Fear not people, I'm not about to embark on a Marxist reading of a Roald Dahl adaptation. This movie is fun, fun, fun, garnering more laughs than any other Anderson movie. It references Ocean's Eleven, martial arts movies and most of all, Anderson's own back catalogue - my companion noted how similar it was to some of the sequences in The Life Aquatic. There are some scenes involving underground digging which echo Anderson's earlier movie strongly and the animals have the same trademark gestures as all Anderson's human creations. Simple effects carry the strongest humour, such as the apossum Kylie's zoned out eyes or Mr Fox's son Ash's pathological spitting and hunched demeanour, bitter at being  'little' (has there ever been a puppet fox who looked more like the owner of it's voice, Jason Schwartzmann?). And yet at the same time (if it's not too pretentious to say so), at the core of this movie is an existential message that you are unable to transcend your fundamental self: Mr Fox is a 'wild animal' after all.

Yes this movie is Americanised, yes it's source material is handled loosely, and yes it's fair to say it's geared more at Anderson's traditional adult audience than kids. But the gurgling chuckles of a littl'un behind me suggests there's enough slapstick and comedy to keep the youngsters happy, as well as the grown ups. And if anyone suggests any different, I can only say, in the words of Mr Fox, 'are you cussing with me?'

An absolute gem - catch it soon.

Air - Love 2

Air released their new album Love 2 earlier this month and I'm pleased to say it's blimmin' brilliant. I grant you, that's not the most sophisticated response to an album ever - especially not when the artists are a sexy French duo who define aural elegance - but I'm not sure what I can say without descending into hyperbole. I've loved them since I was about 16 and they do what they do incredibly well; no one makes languid, come to bed music better.

Someone very clever has made a video for the track 'Heavens Light', which appears right in the middle of the albumn and is delicious. It's so pretty I was compelled to post it for you all. Don't thank me, thank Messers Godin and Dunckel.

Sublime.