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Flight Flicks

On my way down under and back I was delighted by the plethora of movies Qantas were providing their passengers with, and - aside from the times I was just too knackered to concentrate on anything bar finding a comfy position in which to get to sleep - I tried to see as many as possible. All in the interests of the blog you understand. What follows is a summary ...

Wanted - Like Fight Club crossed with The Matrix, but not as good as either really. Looks far cooler than it is. I'm afraid it just stirred up the prurient Daily Mail dark side in me enough to wonder what all the violence was in aid of really. Definitely one for the teenage boys. I did, however, appreciate the following quote uttered by James McAvoy's character: 'Want to hear something sad? I use an ergonomic keyboard to keep my repetitive stress injury in check. Just the fact that I repeat something enough that it causes me stress is fucking sad.'

Brideshead Revisited - Couldn't really tell you what I thought of the whole film, but I can say that I thought the first half an hour was an utter waste of time. Aspirations to Merchant Ivory but coming over like the Tesco Value version, the only notable exception to my irritation with this pointless movie was the presence of Ben Whishaw as Sebastian Flyte in what seemed a very sensitive performance.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Now this is how to do period.  Set in 1939 London, the movie features fabulous performances from a sparky Amy Adams (the new Reese?) as it girl with a secret and aspiring actress Delysia and Frances McDormand as impoverished spinster Miss Pettigrew, whose worlds collide when Delysia advertises for a social secretary. There's also a role for the always entertaining Shirley Henderson as sharp tongued and scheming social climber Edythe, who threatens to be something of a spanner in the works for Miss Pettigrew as she embarks on her new role as Delysia's PA (for want of a better word). And Ciaran Hinds as a sockmaker-turned-lingerie designer(!), whom I adore and just seems to improve with age. And by that I am being totally superficial. He's always been a good actor. He's always been hot, too, for that matter ... Ahem. Where was I? Mark Strong also stars as a sleazy nightclub owner (after RocknRolla and Stardust, it seems he's finally getting his moment to shine), alongside Lee Pace as a dreamy but poor pianist bent on winning Delysia away from the interests of Strong's character as well as fickle but rich west end producer Nick. Will Delysia follow her heart and not the allure of stardom and money? And more importantly, will Miss Pettigrew find true love? This wartime tale is slickly filmed, funny and touching. Although Pace's mongrel English (is he northern or Cockney? Who knows?) lets the side down, even this couldn't stop the film's consistently delightful pace. One I am really glad to have seen - it also shows that there are cracking roles for women in cinema which don't involve any Abba songs or face lifts at all. I promise.

 

Funny Games- Intellectual thriller which stars Naomi Watts (like Nicole Kidman only she can still raise her eyebrows) and Tim Roth as a couple who are held hostage with their son in their holiday home, by two very odd young blond guys (one of whom was Henry in Dawson's Creek - obviously Michael Pitt is opting for the Elijah Wood career path of freaking people out subsequent to playing an innocent cutie). This is a strange film, totally unremitting and sadistic in its intent towards its torturees (is that a word?) and at times almost unbearable to watch, but punctuated by one of the young men turning to the screen and directly addressing the audience about what he plans to do next. The movie's aim is clearly to exploit conventions of horror movies and address how commonplace violence has become in Hollywood (director Haneke = the two blond teens doling out the punishments), and the ending is disappointing to the viewer in more ways than one, feeling flat as the cycle begins again. Is this the point? Frankly I'm a bit baffled but liked how Haneke breaks down the fourth wall to draw the audience into the events, surely raising interesting questions about where they stand on the matter of cinematic violence. I for one found some scenes too squeamish and emotionally harrowing, largely due to Watts filling out what could have been a very typical character, but guiltily kept watching. Does that put me on the side of the victim or the tormenter in this scenario? Interesting ...

Brick Lane- Wow. I read the book a while ago and loved it, and this movie totally blew me away. I was in tears by the end. About a Bangledeshi girl, Nazneem, who is married off to a man much older than her, and relocated to East London, this movie spotlights the experience of ethnic minorities in the UK beautifully. Dealing with issues of love, race, identity and extremism, it never seems heavy or the actors overwhelmed by the enormity of the themes. I really did think this was exceptionally acted by Tannishtha Chatterjee as Nazneem and Satish Kaushik as her husband Chanu. Kaushik was particularly impressive as we saw his character move from clownish and delusional to someone who concealed great strength and integrity, this being revealed to us at the same time as it was to Nazneem. Nazneem's choice at the movie's ending may not be the typical happy ending, but still resulted in bittersweet tears springing into my eyes. Recommended.

The Tracker- Australian morality tale set in the 1920s about the hunt for an Aboriginal man accused of murdering a white woman, which is really more about those on the hunt than the accused. Three white men employ the services of a tracker (David Gulpilil), also an Aboriginal, to find the man under suspicion, and as they travel across the outback, the full horror of racism is exposed on a journey which will have devastating consequences. The fragility of power and trust is constantly at the forefront of your mind as you watch this, unsure what will happen to each man by the end of a film which never lets the tension slacken for a moment. A slow moving, raw and yet simple movie, in the sense of it's stark cinematography, The Tracker delivers a haunting message about Australia's past and deserves to be much more well known.

Meanwhile, back in the Southern Hemisphere ...

I blog today from the cosiness of my place in my tiny Oxfordshire village (well it's cosy inside), after having been dazzled by the metropolises of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and falling in love with the natural splendour of Northern Australia, which is most definitely the heart of the country in more ways than one. Alongside catching up with one of my bestest friends, which was just wonderful, Uluru was the holiday's other big highlight.

I thought I'd offer you a quick roundup of the trip before resuming normal service. What first hit me (other than the sun and the heat) was how big everything seemed; coming back to Oxford and the Cotswolds buildings seemed so dainty and doll-like! Melbourne was the first port of call and had a definite European flavour; I was really won over by it and particularly enjoyed Melbourne Zoo, shopping on Brunswick Street and wandering round St Kilda's streets and beach. Whilst there I even swallowed my misconceptions and in the spirit of holidaying, went to see Wicked at the Regent Theatre. Filmknitter will no doubt observe somewhat smugly that I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite my disparaging remarks about it a few years ago (hangs head - honestly, how could I?!).

From Melbourne to Sydney. Sydney's harbour and Opera House definitely had the wow factor. I love docklands areas generally,there's always such a mingled sense of melancholy and possibility about them. I also adored wandering around the superb Botanic Gardens (loved the fruitbats), but having not been blessed with great weather for some of the trip (my brolly literally snapped in two from the wind on the final day there), it was hard to venture as far afield as planned. One especially windy day we made it to one of Sydney's fantastic cinemas (dimly lit, ambient bars just off the entrance, arthouse fare on offer) just off from the Harbourside and caught Australia, as you'll have noted from my earlier blog. The symmetry of seeing it in the country it's about wasn't lost on me, as you will see from the picture below (couldn't resist) ...

The Art Gallery of New South Wales also hosted a thought-provoking exhibition on Black Australia called Half Light, which was very powerful and featured a range of different mediums. I also made an exciting new discovery there: Destiny Deacon, an indigenous Australian woman whose work deals with post-colonial politics and tackles stereotypes about what it is to be Aboriginal. I really liked what I saw, it was really challenging and confrontational. On a continuing cultural note (get me), when in Brisbane I paid a visit to it's Gallery of Modern Art, and saw an installation by the hyper-realist sculpter Ron Mueck (In Bed, see image taken from Flickr below) which I was very excited about as I've always been interested in his work. Seeing one of his creations for real really rammed home to me the true meaning of the word uncanny - I felt very strange and voyeuristic standing there looking at something so lifelike, almost like I was violating the space of the sculpture (this in spite of its size and, well, unrealness). In Bed, as with all Mueck's work, definitely raises lots of interesting questions about the physicality of what it is to view art and is a very creepy experience. Fresh from Wikipedia, I can also tell film-fans reading this that he's been a model maker and pupeteer for kid's TV and movies, including Labyrinth and The Storyteller. So there you go! Who knows when that might crop up in a pub quiz?!

And now for Uluru, Kata Tjuta and the breathtaking landscapes of northern Australia. Wonderful. If I were less of a wimpish Pom I would love to live out there - the tenacity and rawness of the landscape appealed to me like nothing before has: there's a magic about the place which you breathe from the moment you step off the plane. And lots of mosquitos, as my legs will testify. And that's why I am what our antipodean cousins would call a whinging Pom. Seriously though - I can't recommend the Northern Territory and Ayers Rock Resort enough. There is a soulfulness about the country there and you can really see why Uluru is sacred to the Aboriginal people. It was amazing to learn more about Australia's indigenous culture, a culture which has endured despite the disgusting treatment it received at the hands of white settlers and a culture which is Australia's true heart and history. I can say no more but just add this picture, which does more than any words.

Australia

Every cloud has a silver lining ... In this case, the clouds being the sullen looking ones over Sydney Harbour, and the silver lining Baz Luhrmann's latest movie Australia. Yes, here I am in Oz - more of which will follow when I get home in a few weeks. The weather in Sydney was less than summery (although I was lucky enough to get to see Bondi Beach with blue skies and 26 degree heat, so don't feel too sorry for me if it's wet and dreary where you are!). At a loss for what to do and facing a severe downpour, there was nothing for it but to catch Australia in, well Australia. Starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, the movie was released down under in late November so as a Pom I treated this advance viewing somewhat smugly.

Australia tells the tale of the growing love affair between prim English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) and the rugged, rough and ready Australian drover called, um, Drover (Jackman). Set in Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory at the onset of WWII, we are introduced to them when Lady Sarah travels to Australia to check on her husband's ranch only to find he has been killed, an Aboriginal man set up with his murder, and that in order to save her ranch she and the Drover have to combine forces to cross the sprawling countryside of Darwin, herding thousands of cattle as they do so. Though they initially clash, in the grand tradition of all cinematic love affairs (Gone With the Wind, anyone?) they come to grow as people and fall in love. There is an interesting parallel plot involving a mixed blood Aboriginal boy called Nullah (a wonderful and startlingly naturalistic Brandon Walters) who represents Australia's stolen generations (aboriginal children who were taken from their parents and placed in white care in shocking attempts to 'civilise' them, an Australian policy which only ended in 1973 and for which somewhat incredibly, Aborigines were only formally apologised to by the current Australian Prime Minister this year). These strands are pulled together for a dramatic finale set against the Japanese bombing of Darwin.

There's a lot going on in this movie, some aspects of which are more successful than others. We have ingredients encompassing epic drama, romance, themes of war and racism, mysticism, westerns and light comedy all packaged in a sentimental homage to the golden age of Hollywood cinema. Some of these elements work better than others. There are some beautiful mystical scenes featuring David Gulipil as King George and Brandon Walters' Nullah as Aboriginal grandfather and grandson, and the stunning landscape of Northern Australia glories throughout - the movie is much a love story to the terrain of Lurhmann's country as it is a romance between Lady Sarah and the Drover. This romance is not especially deep but very sweet, and Kidman finally proves she can do light comedy in the first entertaining quarter of the movie. After more arthouse fare (Fur, Birth), this blockbuster puts her back on the map for arguably the first time since her last outing with Luhrmann in Moulin Rouge. The reliable and charming Hugh Jackman is also very good, managing to lift his character above just cliche and dialogue which he is by far superior to as an actor. He is a proper 'spunk' to use antipodean terminology, and as I watched I couldn't help but wonder if costume designer and Baz's missus Catherine Martin ever questions her husband's sexuality, given the way his camera work shamelessly ogles his male lead! On the subject of costumes, these are a delight to behold - particularly those worn by Kidman. They are all clean lines and classic structures - an oriental style dress worn by Kidman is especially gorgeous.

Anyway, back to the plot. The romance between the Drover and Lady Sarah conforms to a classic structure but is enchanting in its nostalgia, although I did notice a surprising lack of chemistry between the leads. Their involvement impressed me much less than that of David Ngooombujarra as the Drover's former brother in law and the aforementioned Brandon Walters, who both provide stirring performances which resonate long after watching. As does, somewhat more superficially one could argue, Jackman's ripped torso. Not to labour a point or anything, but man he looks good! Seriously though, Jackman's character serves not only as a love interest but also, alongside the character of Nullah, to expose the disgusting way in which the indigenous peoples of Australia were treated by white settlers. The Drover is scorned by white society for his involvement with the Aboriginal peoples and I would have liked more of this story - Jackman would be up to the challenge - have you seen The Fountain?! He's very talented and some of this talent wasn't stretched enough here. However I also appreciate that would have taken the film in a different direction and made it something else entirely - something I am not sure fits with Luhrmann's style.

Luhrmannn's fast paced and uber-stylised signature is stamped all over the first few scenes of the movie and sits really well with the light comedic touch he employs there. His feel for colour and life also perfectly suits the scenes involving the amazing Australian vistas. However I couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to cram too much in, as he loses his way at certain points after this and didn't seem equipped to handle the seriousness of the bombing scenes. Some of the CGI employed also failed to convince me. Given that he's one for highlighting the artificiality of filmmaking if the subject matter was different I could have thought that such fakery was deliberate. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem the case and even if it were, it clanged with the comedy of the beginning by seeming to attempt something more David Lean and epic.

However Australia is still an enjoyable, grandiose movie which is definitely a labour of love and compelling from start to finish, in spite of its flaws. Viewers should take it as it is and not expect something more highbrow, which some of the subject matter admittedly deserves. As with all Baz Luhrmann movies, Australia looks very pretty and wears its heart firmly on its sleeve. It seduces you just as much as the Australian landscapes have me and I enjoyed it's old fashioned family feel. Whilst I am sure that the movie could have gone further in exploring the Aboriginal experience and that a fair few Aussies could criticise its falling back on Australian cliches (crikey, strewth etc), it does a good job for what it is - a sumptuous tribute to the movies of yesteryear which should be taken as just that.