Sad Birds

Every time I ask people about this film they start gabbling. Its either 'great' or 'unspeakably great' or 'so true' etc etc. It made it a Must See but troubling afterward.

I have seen a little of the Ballet world and, while the discipline is greater for dancing, there are similarities with Performance. The exploitation and obvious sexual predation seem less now but this is a whole new era where these things are less acceptable. It was not so thirty years ago. If this film is so true then the Ballet world is stuck back there.

It's not appealing. The self harm and body focus are real and made alarmingly more likely when model ages seem to be going down catastrophically. But the infantilasation and exploitation of the dancers goes right back to Vaslav Nijinsky whose huge talent (which so often goes with great unworldliness) was so used by ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, he was driven mad. Nijinsky lives in my imagination as the greatest dancer of all time whose skill flickers out dimly from the superb photos taken of him.

We are lucky to have such a high level of this demanding art available in Australia. It treats its adherents with great cruelty but in every audience there is a sprinkling of young girls...really young, all dressed up in tutus sitting by their mothers. Take care, take care. I wanted to dance and the small amount I did was as close to heaven on earth as I have ever felt.


Click here for a trailer of 'Black Swan':

Talk to Me

My family had problems of the kind this beautiful film depicts. Stammering or stuttering is an insidious and devastating affliction - you never know how much you can feel for someone until you find you can not help them through a horrible ordeal. There are few public troubles worse than willing someone you love through a speech they seem unable to begin. God bless the ones who guide people out of it.

And what a job they do of it in this movie. I have always wondered at actors who learn speech defects because they are so difficult to lose. Same with weight gains and losses - any sort of affliction which will take a deal of unlearning. Apparently this was excruciatingly tough for Colin Firth and I believe it. It is completely convincing and that must have been hell.

Geoffrey Rush is wonderful and having just seen him in 'The Diary of a Madman' perhaps we should all be grateful for the training in mime he did in France earlier on in his career. He uses movement like a dancer and it never fails. He is unpredictable, irreverent and irresistible as speech therapist Lionel Logue. Nice to think that the Logue family wanted to make the story public earlier but deferred to the wishes of the Queen Mother who could not bear to rake through the memories again.

Good to remember also that because of this remarkable Australian's work with the king the monarch was able to open the first Australian Government in the new capitol: Australia's Federal Parliament.

I knew King George VI had no wish to be crowned but I did not know how extreme his speech problems were. However it does now make sense of a strange event in history which has always puzzled me. Churchill attached a note to his wreath at the King's funeral which said simply 'For Courage'. Now we know why.


To see a trailer of 'The King's Speech, Click here:

Small Arms Fire

I saw the trailer for 'Life during Wartime' and immediately wanted to see it. The images of clean cut, sorrowful beings and their quirky cracks was compelling and not full of the leaden misery so many other tales of urban angst have. The poster was better and even the failure of the projector at the first screening could not stop me.

Shirley Henderson is luminous and her spare figure is as close to a Dickensian waif as you could get in a modern film. She is a Scottish actress whose face you would have seen in Bridget Jones 'the Edge of Reason' and in a Harry Potter film playing, of all things, Moaning Myrtle ! She fits seamlessly into this intensely Jewish movie. Joining her as her brother in law with a dark past is Ciarán Hinds - an Irish actor whose brooding good looks may bring back memories of 'Munich'. He never seems to stop working and has a list of completed films ready for release stretching into 2012.

Charlotte Rampling is another thing altogether. Despite her growling you are on her side and her sadness echoes the base notes of the movie. It observes the dance but is neither judgmental or grim. There is an elegant empathy here which saves it and relieves the stylish shooting with a warm, if distant humour.

The actors are beautifully cast - Aly Sheedy,Allison Janney, Paul Reubens and Michael Kenneth Williams from The Wire are marvellous but where does that title come from? There are so many references to it on search engines for books, comics etc you wonder what else they are going to do under it? Which reminds me - I looked it up to see if it was about 'military' war, saw Allison Janney's name and decided to go. Her wonderful obfuscation when asked the facts of life is as funny as it is sad and dangerous. How DO you tell children about the birds and bees - especially the bad bees?


Click here to see a trailer of 'Life During War'.

Fair Spooks

Two Australian actresses have appeared as spies recently and both covered themselves in glory. The first, Genevieve O'Reilly in 'Spooks' playing an American femme fatale ostensibly working for the CIA but with dark undertones which lead her to hurtle male mentors straight off balconies. This was such a shock that I had to rewind to see how it could have happened. Her calm impassive beauty is absolute classic siren stuff and surprisingly, I have worked with her on 'All Saints'. She did a season for them and I remember her sitting in the green room looking as impressive under those horrible bright lights as she does on screen on Saturday nights for ABC TV.

Now, in 'Fair Game' Naomi Watts takes on the real life spy story of Valerie Plame. This extraordinary woman has two master degrees, speaks four languages and is drop dead gorgeous. Her degrees seem to have been taken in part to facilitate her deep cover work as a young business exec and it is no surprise that she worked in woman's fashion while waiting for the CIA to respond to her application. This is indeed the stuff of legend and the scene in a car, when she tells a bumptious young business man who she really is and what his options are (limited and bad) is one of the most exhilarating I have ever seen. Apparently Plame was on the set a lot and that in itself must have been intimidating but Watts has that magic ingredient which she shares with O'Reilly. They have the grace to hold themselves. They have a calm demeanor in the face of madness and it gives them great power as performers.

Strength with beauty is a rare thing. These women have it in spades. They play both sides of the moral game and you are left in no doubt that they could. We've come a long way from Mata Hari.

Click here to see a trailer of 'Fair Game'

Hop on board.

I went along to see 'The Social Network' with the friend who introduced me to it, slightly nervous the movie was going to do a hatchet job but no. It is a forensic look at what started the whole new world of communication and to judge by the two noisy Zuckerberg nerds who shut up like clams as soon as the film started, compelling film making of the highest sort.

The film tells us that people who make a great deal of money aren't always well rounded and that satisfying a market is not necessarily a soul enriching process. Not a huge surprise there but it is written by Aaron Sorkin and therefore has laugh out loud moments, fabulous dialogue, meticulous characterisation and a structure that pays off.

But it is not, as it has been accused of, misogynist. The injured girlfriend has the best 'Take That!' scene I have seen for a long time and because women are seen realistically does not make it demeaning to females. It is demeaning in its depiction of what American students have to go through to attend 'college'. What are they running in these places? Thunderdome? Is this Animal Farm? Yup.

A couple of things bemused me...does Justin Timberlake have green makeup in the denouement scene? Methinks he does. I have heard of 'comment' in performance but to do so in makeup seems extreme.

I think casting Andrew Garfield was genius. Anyone who can play brilliant, loyal and decent without being a pain is a master of his art. Rooney Mara as the wounded girlfriend is wonderful too and I look forward to her as Lisbeth Salander in the American version of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.'

You have to wonder at Jesse Eisenberg in the lead. His face, voice and persona seem to inhabit this role. Just when you think you feel some empathy for this man, you see the curl of his contemptuous lip and want to hit him all over again.

Finally, any director who can make a boat race exciting is talented...to put it mildly. Thank David Fincher and take your heart pills.

To see a trailer of 'The Social Network' click here:

What's not to like?

I hadn't realised how much I love being on set but shooting 'PURPLE FLOWERS' this week was the clincher. What's not to like really?
You meet talented people from all over the world, get fussed over and made up, immerse yourself in another life, tea and coffee is brought to you and then you get paid. It is a bonus if you like the script, cast, director and production team.

Shooting this beautiful short film had its startling moments too. For some reason, I had not factored in that I had to do the emotional work on the first day - but it was fine. I had worked with director Julian Ryan in his former life as Assistant Director on 'Paradise Road' - he is calm and insightful and brings things to the set to inspire and inform his actors. He gave Christian Byers some 'Buster Keaton' short films and a book of Oscar Wilde to scan. He is also good at letting you know what is not right without making you feel small and adept at steering you in the direction he wants without crowding you.

Christian Byers is in line for some great upcoming movies and once again he showed why everyone wants him. Working with him there are always surprises and the scenes feel fresh and spontaneous. Newcomer Airlie Dodds played his girlfriend and the two of them reminded me of the eighth wonder of the world...wise souls in teenage bodies.

Drew Bailey won an Oscar Nomination for his film 'Miracle Fish'. He is a great producer and if you want to see why, click on below and... fasten your seat belt.

To see 'Miracle Fish' click here:

OH Boy!

I heard very little about this before it was released and it came as a great swell of surprise when I saw it. Make or break for me is identification with characters - whether or not you are willing to take the journey of the film with them. The opening of this trailer will give you an idea how easy it is to go anywhere with this 'Boy'.

James Rolleston was a late starter for the part. He turned up at a wardrobe call for extras and won the role after a series of auditions. During the long preproduction rewrites, the original Boy had grown into adolescence and out of contention for the role. Spare a thought for this mystery 'Boy' who must occasionally think of the 'Might have Beens' as he watches the stellar trajectory of the film. Spare another for the girl Judy Davis replaced as the lead in 'My Brilliant Career' all those years ago, whose name (surprise, surprise) escapes me.

Taika Waititi plays the father and his wonderful performance is made more stunning when you realise he is the director and writer and just about everything else. Along the path to production, he took his script to Sundance and worked and reworked his ideas until the film arrived at its current state as highest grossing New Zealand film of all time. The last high grossing New Zealand film was the 'World's Fastest Indian' with famous expat NZ director Roger Donaldson and Anthony Hopkins. To measure Waititi's accomplishment it is worth considering that there is not one familiar face in this production.

Once were warriors, now are gentler 'Boy's and oh my God, years of hard work.

Click here to see the trailer of 'BOY':

To Be or Not to Be?

When you first see 'Me and Orson Welles', you might wonder if you can accept Christian McKay as Welles BUT it won't take long before you think the man has come back to life. This actor had played Orson before and it certainly shows.

From the credits onward this is an unusual film. The production originates from the Isle of Man - a small tax haven off the coast of England. The film itself is peopled with faces from the Royal Shakespeare Company and the story of the shoot would inspire anyone battling with a smaller budget than the film required. The Isle of Man took the place of New York and the same set at Pinewood was used over and over again from different angles to represent the whole Big Apple. Who cares? You'd never know.

Both Zac Ephron and Claire Danes are good with particular credit to Danes who manages to mix hard heart with hard head and still keep our sympathy.

I went with an actor friend who laughed out loud. This is very close to what happens behind the scenes and it is crowned by a representation of the Julius Caesar / Welles production which made his name. Don't laugh too much - some of the scenes are practically documentary footage of theatrical life.

Click here to see a trailer of Me and Orson Welles:

Is She in Heaven?

Last week was a big week for me. Not only a bit of a big birthday but a big surprise in the letter box. I got a thank you from one of the wonderful stars of 'The TREE' after we had all been to see 'Toy Story'. I had never seen any of those films and it was fascinating. A big charge to go with a young man in a black leather jacket and his beautiful sister.

Gabriel is 5 now. He was four when I met him and the other members of the cast in Boonah, Queensland. All the four children where good actors and all got on with each other. The eldest, Christian Byers, is a young man and stood in for an elder brother. Both he and Tom Russel had both been in films before - the younger two had not.

Gabriel made friends with everyone on the set. He had an untarnished attitude to his performance which I found irresistible.

After several takes one day, his shoulders slumped and he quietly said 'It's boring now.' Oh how many of us have wanted to say that but not having a mop of golden hair and big blue eyes, have given the impulse a miss. Also the pleasure the children took in their food was wonderful. I have a photograph of Gabriel eating an ice cream with only his hair and eyes showing above the cloth.

Morgana had not acted either before and she is another Big Deal actress in the making. That's if she wants to be. At the Sydney film festival I tried to nod at her when she was asked if she wanted to act again and she wasn't having it. Morgana knows her mind and to see this film is to know she knows.

If you do it only for them...go and see 'The TREE'. It's out in September. Also to be hip. Charlotte Gainsbourg is a giant star in France. Those frenchies seek her everywhere!

'Ello 'Ello

I always wanted to see this film. Having heard an interview with the director Christian Caron, I wanted to see it even more. His description of the problems making 'Farewell' is enough to give any director, producer and 1st assistant the heeby jeebies.

The original lead actor pulled out at the last moment, the part was recast with director Emir Kusturica in the lead role. For me, this worked so well that personally, I would have preferred him in the lead male role for 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.

I love cold war stories and this one holds its own with the best. It is scary and skillful and tense like 'Gorky Park' and 'The Spy who came in from the Cold' and it is no surprise that it is based on a real story. The REALLY real story is much worse apparently and says little for our allies or our own security.

I thought the camera work and casting supreme and it brought back that very late cold war period with horrible clarity. It has the usual long trips into bleak winter landscapes under leaden snow filled skies which I remember from a few months spent in Finland as a child.

The idealism and hopeless dodginess of the amateur spooks winds up the audience like a spring and added to this, two devastating domestic lives which stretch and strain under the burden of the secrets the men are carrying. This is not just a spy story but carries with it a broader scope that even non spooks will react to.

Hurry, before it really is 'Farewell' for a cinema screening of this.

Click here to see the trailer of 'Farewell':