Last night I dreamt I went to school again. Not a very good idea at the best of times but it is one of the fascinations of this beautiful documentary that you can compare schoolgirls now and then. There is probably not much to choose between us but it did surprise me how unkempt 'Mrs Carey's' lot were considering the amount of money their parents must be paying and the loving attention of the teachers.
Not that we cared a jot for loving attention. We were rude and arrogant and short on sympathy as some of these students are... but not all. I had a few moments when I wanted to jump into the film and tell some to listen, LISTEN because you may not get another chance...'Carpe Diem'. Its not necessary because the film will say it for me and it is incisive in its observation. It is a constant surprise how many people forget that a camera is on them and oh what material it provides for us.
You get to know the wonderful Mrs Carey and see her discussions of the students and various crises as they appear. You get to love her as her face is literally illuminated with joy as she sits under the stage at the Opera House listening to her concert.
And you do draw close to the fabulously talented students. Out of the work of babes come sounds you would be pleased to pay folding money for anywhere in the world.
Watch for Mrs Carey as she approaches her performance and the worst miss hap that can befall a performer happens to her. Then be amazed. Be very amazed.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
The Lady Vanishes / Classics
I saw this film in boarding school, projected on to a canvas screen decades after it was made. It had me from the title and still does. Looking at it now with its evocative music and astonishing opening scene shot in what appears to be Lilliput but is in effect an 'aerial' shot of a model village...and a pretty creaky one at that, I feel again the sense of pride and anticipation I always feel at the opening credits.
Set in a fictional European country with Gobbledegook language, its only problem is a brittle and high powered romance between the two leading characters which is dated but the extraordinary pre War moral convictions are fascinating. For years I thought it was shot during the War but this is 1938 Europe and nothing is ever going to be the same again.
Hitchcock is at his best here and you will see Googie Withers as a vivacious friend of the bride before the real intrigue begins and the hair on the back of your neck starts to prickle. And if you think the film is too neatly divided into popular opinions of the War represented by various figures, remember that this was a year before the actual fighting began and no one had any idea what the outcome would be.
Dame May Witty plays 'The Lady'and I will introduces her only as an elderly woman on her way home to England. She proves to be a person of unimagined resourses. I grew up with women who had done dangerous and strenuous work during World War 11 who wore their accomplishments with the same everyday good humour that Dame May Witty does in this surprising portait. Oh tell me if there would ever be a film written about intrigue and physical courage today - with a stout elderly woman at its core?
Set in a fictional European country with Gobbledegook language, its only problem is a brittle and high powered romance between the two leading characters which is dated but the extraordinary pre War moral convictions are fascinating. For years I thought it was shot during the War but this is 1938 Europe and nothing is ever going to be the same again.
Hitchcock is at his best here and you will see Googie Withers as a vivacious friend of the bride before the real intrigue begins and the hair on the back of your neck starts to prickle. And if you think the film is too neatly divided into popular opinions of the War represented by various figures, remember that this was a year before the actual fighting began and no one had any idea what the outcome would be.
Dame May Witty plays 'The Lady'and I will introduces her only as an elderly woman on her way home to England. She proves to be a person of unimagined resourses. I grew up with women who had done dangerous and strenuous work during World War 11 who wore their accomplishments with the same everyday good humour that Dame May Witty does in this surprising portait. Oh tell me if there would ever be a film written about intrigue and physical courage today - with a stout elderly woman at its core?
Monday, April 25, 2011
Living Large
Gérard Depardieu is one of my favourite actors and I always thought it was because he was so attractive. Well, he is but there is a lot more of him than there was in say 'Cyrano de Bergerac', and still he shines. For one thing, he allows his ample person to be put into overalls which for a large man is a bit of a sretch. Another thing...he fills the screen. He is on for the entire movie and he never fails.
With him is fabulous prime age star Gisèle Casadesus who is charm itself. Delicate and restrained she tiptoes into his life with the precision of a cat. Talking of which this film has the best cat acting I have ever seen. Depardieu has a two hander with this feline and they work well together. Its' tail is suspiciously whipping about with annoyance but it does what is needed. Merde, is nothing impossible for french filmmakers?
I must say that Camus' prose left me unimpressed when it is received with such
rapture by Depardieu. Later when they pass on to 'Howling at your mother's grave' I am right with them.
This is a film for families, baby boomers and men who don't have time for older women. If you would like to see how beautiful french women, I mean typical french women can be, give this a go. Depardieu's mother, lover and old friend are all gorgeous including the barmaid. The men less so but of course the animal acting is superb. Especially the rats. And if you have a man you wish you had treated more harshly, comfort yourself with the mothers' reaction when her light'o love slaps Gérard. Then put down that pitchfork and say OMMMMMMM to yourself.
With him is fabulous prime age star Gisèle Casadesus who is charm itself. Delicate and restrained she tiptoes into his life with the precision of a cat. Talking of which this film has the best cat acting I have ever seen. Depardieu has a two hander with this feline and they work well together. Its' tail is suspiciously whipping about with annoyance but it does what is needed. Merde, is nothing impossible for french filmmakers?
I must say that Camus' prose left me unimpressed when it is received with such
rapture by Depardieu. Later when they pass on to 'Howling at your mother's grave' I am right with them.
This is a film for families, baby boomers and men who don't have time for older women. If you would like to see how beautiful french women, I mean typical french women can be, give this a go. Depardieu's mother, lover and old friend are all gorgeous including the barmaid. The men less so but of course the animal acting is superb. Especially the rats. And if you have a man you wish you had treated more harshly, comfort yourself with the mothers' reaction when her light'o love slaps Gérard. Then put down that pitchfork and say OMMMMMMM to yourself.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Elizabeth the Great
Well, she's gone. She had been ill so long that we were used to hearing almost weekly about her trials but she seemed immortal and I will miss her. In the last years of her life she did not present a great or a very admirable figure but the sum of her achievements is huge.
Many images of her near perfection bombarded us through the sixties and seventies. Her private life, fabulous jewels and love affairs filled magazines and she seemed preened for the most casual interviews in the manner of royalty, as Sophia Loren often was. It was beguiling and heady to watch and of course she was, as Paul Newman put it "a practicing voluptuary." If only more men would remember their favourite sirens so graciously.
Looking back on 'Cleopatra' it is in many ways silly and wayward but it was spectacular at the time and she certainly came off as a mighty woman of the world and a convincing conqueror of conquerors. She was paid a million dollars for her role and it propelled her into the headlines for life.
Despite this she raised a family successfully and carved a career for herself which gained the respect of the world and on top of it all she was one of the great beauties of all time. We had Taylor and Loren, Bardot and Monroe and many others. Never say there is no beauty in the world.
In the latter part of her life, she sustained her self with business enterprises which succeeded and a dedication to Aids Charities well before it was accepted or acceptable. In this short video covering her performance in her first feature film as an adult albeit only seventeen, you get an impression of the grace of the girl and the steel of the woman.
Many images of her near perfection bombarded us through the sixties and seventies. Her private life, fabulous jewels and love affairs filled magazines and she seemed preened for the most casual interviews in the manner of royalty, as Sophia Loren often was. It was beguiling and heady to watch and of course she was, as Paul Newman put it "a practicing voluptuary." If only more men would remember their favourite sirens so graciously.
Looking back on 'Cleopatra' it is in many ways silly and wayward but it was spectacular at the time and she certainly came off as a mighty woman of the world and a convincing conqueror of conquerors. She was paid a million dollars for her role and it propelled her into the headlines for life.
Despite this she raised a family successfully and carved a career for herself which gained the respect of the world and on top of it all she was one of the great beauties of all time. We had Taylor and Loren, Bardot and Monroe and many others. Never say there is no beauty in the world.
In the latter part of her life, she sustained her self with business enterprises which succeeded and a dedication to Aids Charities well before it was accepted or acceptable. In this short video covering her performance in her first feature film as an adult albeit only seventeen, you get an impression of the grace of the girl and the steel of the woman.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Intestinal Fortitude
I met a man who stonewalled me about 'True Grit'. He refused to think that the latest Coen Brothers movie was better than the John Wayne original. Oh Lord, where to start?
First, the introduction we get to the American West through the marvelous set direction and costuming of this latest Jeff Bridges version, is stunning. The bleakness of the local town,with its no frills living and basic justice where the young heroine meets her unlikely hero, is a pared down less than marvelous spot. You know lean persons live here, living lean and mostly mean themselves. No place for a lady and no place for a child.
The Coens have coaxed a performance out of the young actress that winds us up and sets us off on a wild adventure and if you doubt her acting cred or the Coens ability to direct, have a look at her negotiating scene with the Stock and Station Agent. She whirls Jeff Bridges as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn onto a mission that he regrets very quickly but not quickly enough to avoid it.
This 'True Grit' gives you an idea of the hardships and loneliness of that life and the ending is the most exhilarating I have seen for a long time. The film follows the characters through relentlessly and, knowing as we mostly do our own frailties, it is moving to see the natural consequences of their acts several decades later. They never get past what happened to them neither do they deviate from the paths their personalities set them on.
If you really want to see the difference between the two films, have a look at the trailers. One is lean and crisp and the other, well... not. And then just ask yourself whether a law man on a horse would really wear a hat several sizes too small to go about his business.
Click here to see the two 'True Grit' trailers:
First, the introduction we get to the American West through the marvelous set direction and costuming of this latest Jeff Bridges version, is stunning. The bleakness of the local town,with its no frills living and basic justice where the young heroine meets her unlikely hero, is a pared down less than marvelous spot. You know lean persons live here, living lean and mostly mean themselves. No place for a lady and no place for a child.
The Coens have coaxed a performance out of the young actress that winds us up and sets us off on a wild adventure and if you doubt her acting cred or the Coens ability to direct, have a look at her negotiating scene with the Stock and Station Agent. She whirls Jeff Bridges as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn onto a mission that he regrets very quickly but not quickly enough to avoid it.
This 'True Grit' gives you an idea of the hardships and loneliness of that life and the ending is the most exhilarating I have seen for a long time. The film follows the characters through relentlessly and, knowing as we mostly do our own frailties, it is moving to see the natural consequences of their acts several decades later. They never get past what happened to them neither do they deviate from the paths their personalities set them on.
If you really want to see the difference between the two films, have a look at the trailers. One is lean and crisp and the other, well... not. And then just ask yourself whether a law man on a horse would really wear a hat several sizes too small to go about his business.
Click here to see the two 'True Grit' trailers:
Sunday, February 20, 2011
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':
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':
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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:
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:
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
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'.
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'.
Friday, December 3, 2010
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'
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'
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
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:
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