No Frou Frou

It is always a mistake to have preconceived ideas about a film. I had looked forward to seeing a reconstruction of the early life of Coco Chanel in 'Coco avant Chanel', following the lines of 'poor girl makes good' - with beautiful costumes. Instead you get the real thing.

'Coco avant Chanel' begins with her early childhood in a Dickensian orphanage, progressing through her miserable semi - talent as a chanteuse and on to her not very romantic association with a wealthy french landholder - without an elegant stitch on her. Instead, there was the uncanny likeness of Audrey Tautou to the real Coco and lots of striding, in an odd reminder of Judy Davis in 'My Brilliant Career'. You know she is on her way somewhere but she is so unconventional it takes a while to adjust.

The film shows why she developed her attitude to love and her fierce independence. It is not a comforting nor comfortable vision.

The script is extraordinary and there are genuine Bon Mots including a wonderful allusion to her second lover 'Boy' Capel, who they all adore "because he is English and so elegant." The casting of the two men in this period of her life is very un-Hollywood... Benoit Poelvoordee as Etienne Balsan and Alessandra Nivola as 'Boy' Capel - a Belgian and an American playing a Frenchman and an Englishman. It is strange how often a preconception of nationality is wrong and how observant outsiders can be of a 'type.'

The translation for the subtitles has been done in very colloquial American and is jarring but school girl french comes back quickly when you would rather watch the actors than the subtitles. The next section of her life, moving on to the foundation of her empire and her Post war emergence from retirement to compete with Dior and his 'new look' would be fascinating. Get Judy Davis for that.

To see the real Coco Chanel, click here:

Frank but not Ernest

Settling down to watch the Arthur Upfield telemovie on ABC last weekend, I had expected a fast paced, even racy outback detective story. Oh no, not at all and for a while I thought we'd be stuck in the well worn and extremely dismal 'WW1 vet has trouble with women but hides real affection for lost boy'. I was not sure I could go through too much more of that but this production slips neatly past the cliches while remaining true to the stripped down facts of life at that time.

Robert Menzies gives the sort of performance that takes him way beyond the bleak Rabbit Proof Fence territory his character works in. His stoicism and stolid insistence on his populist talents as a writer are counterbalanced by absolute confidence in his integrity. Moments of conflict and then resolution with his family are highlights but even they are dished out with the same reluctance Upfield seemed to have felt for self glorification. Nevertheless they're there and so we see glimpses of happiness possible on the horizon.

As an avid watcher of crime stories, I often find myself watching violent crime scenes I would consider over the top from any other genre. Responsibility for this fascination is looked at here, as Arthur Upfield's plotting of a 'Boney' story sucks in a sociopath whose subsequent crimes follow the author's pattern. The inclusion of Nicholas Hope of 'Bad Boy Bubby' fame is interesting - his persona curls round his role as the dogged investigator perfectly.

For those of us for whom too much detective telly is not enough, this was a thoughtful exercise.

To see interviews with the writer, producer and director, click here:

David and Goliath

Late one night, I heard an interview with Roberto Saviano, author of 'Gomorrah'. This Italian author was in hiding having written about his experiences with the Camorra - a mafia organisation in North Italy. Several years before, I had seen the best film Chazz Palminteri had ever starred in - FALCONE about an anti Mafia Judge working in Sicily.

At intervals, the papers show the state Naples is in, with rubbish piling high in the streets but nothing ever seemed to come of it and so the story 'went away'. Now this movie comes out following the publication of the book in 2006 and over the last few months, 60 mafiosi have been captured in Naples.

The film creates a world of its own with signs and sounds as foreign and intriguing as any distant place. You follow the lives of six characters, diving deep into the entrails of a vast public housing complex. The faces remind you of Roman statuary with their aquiline noses and strong profiles but there is little glory here.

The sound editor should get an Oscar for pointing us at the centre of things we need to notice and there's a not dud performance in it. More bad underwear but everything else is beautifully done. If such a topic can be exquisite, this is. I particularly liked one moral turning point when a mafiosi throws away an old ladies' gift of home grown peaches complaining of the 'smell'. We get a good, long look at the beautiful fresh fruit and the trouble the old lady took with the them.

To see a trailer of 'Gomorrah', click here:

Heavenly Hair~Lisa

There will always be stories about make up and wardrobe. As a fan of the 20th Century production of 'Cleopatra' with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, I wanted to have a quick look at it before I included it in this blog but sadly, her accent is too annoying for even a snippet. The costumes, hair and makeup are breathtaking so, when I was sitting in Makeup recently and the makeup artist asked me who I wanted to look like, I said 'The Queen of the Nile.' There was a small pause...

Its not surprising that women want to look their best and I don't think it ever changes. So in these days of belt tightening, it is wonderful to have found a local hairdresser who works the magic. When my long time hairdresser left town for a tree change I decided to find one closer to home. The nearest was five minutes away and I walked in and asked them who was their best cutter. The appointment was a bit nerve wracking as I am trying to keep the colour I have always had but wanting something new in the cut. Lisa asked me questions, listened to the answers and then gave me the best cut and colour I have ever had. I had rung up beforehand to find out about the prices which were moderate and fair. After the fabulous cut and colour, they seemed like a dream.

So, if you are looking for a good hairdresser in Sydney, I would heartily recommend Lisa at Heavenly Hair and Body.

And the address is appropriate:

186/2A HOLLYWOOD AVE.

BONDI JUNCTION
N.S.W. Tel: 02 9369 3372

http://www.heavenly-hair-body.com.au/

They are two minutes away from Westfield and more importantly for me, as I never seem to have my diary under control, Lisa will make efforts to fit in with your work schedule.For all professional women who have to look good, and need to keep the mortgage payments up too, you get the best of both here.

Just to let you know how the beloved make up lady adapted to me wanting to be Cleopatra.
After a minute she lifted up her brush and said: "This is a brush not a wand."

To find out more about the real Queen of the Nile, click here:

Angels, Demons and the whole damn thing.

After this luscious jump into old Testament mythology you come out feeling strangely splattered with guts and slightly grubby. I like Tom Hanks, one of my favourite films is 'Apollo 13' but something has happened to Ron Howard in this. In a reaction to the hype of 'The Da Vinci Code' I did not see the film but I love labyrinthine plots so I was expecting a lot. I suppose there lurked the spirit of 'The Shoes of the Fisherman' in the back of my mind and it didn't help.

Rome is a big, busy city and I think it suffers from the modish quick cutting in this. You no sooner focus on one great scene when you are zoomed into some corner of it and then raced off to another location and all to a sound track that speaks too much volume. I think it reveals a lack of confidence in content when there's so much orchestra in your ears.

You do get an insiders look at the Vatican and some wonderful performances including Armin Mueller-Stahl, who must have suffered a small wince when the Goethe Institute ran a retrospective of his career under the title 'Architect of the Soul'. Perhaps not - he does have a gravitas that can be horribly absent in film and you relax every time he is on screen. Best known internationally for his performance as the Father in 'Shine', he exudes the wisdom of experience in his role as Cardinal Strauss, with the result that you are never completely sure which side he may be on.

There is a wonderful complexity of faces here with great performances from relative unknowns such as Nikolaj Kaas as the assassin. Ewan Mcgregor carries all truth and honour before him while he leads us effortlessly round the inner sanctum and we try to work out who is doing what to whom.

This is beautiful and fast...sometimes a little too fast for Tom Hank's leading lady who had a bit of trouble with those heels I thought. It is plainly not written by Morris West but if they do another one, and keep the camera from poking into too many sores and wounds, I'll go and see it.

To see an interview with Ron Howard on the making of 'Angels and Demons' click here:

No Disgrace

I heard that Anna Maria Monticelli wrote the script for this film on spec with no guarantee the Nobel Prize winning South African author J.M.Coetzee, would ever agree to it. The amount of faith and discipline that takes is hard to imagine but it paid off and the finished film, directed by her partner Steve Jacobs is testament to her taste and tenacity. This is their second film after 'La Spagnola'.

Right at the start you are launched into a world presided over by that faded satyr John Malkovich, who stalks my imagination as the predator in 'Les Liaisons'. He is older now and paler, so pale in fact that soon his image actually fades from the screen but the demon lives. Facing rows of fresh faced students he finds another beauty and wills himself into her world. What follows is a sad story of use and abuse which leaves him with nowhere to go but his daughter's faraway cottage nestled deep in the spectacular South African mountain ranges. From here the saga turns in on itself in a relentless chart of decline and retreat.

Malkovich is great but surrounded by performances of equal strength and humanity. The violence when it looms is fearful but there is no slobbering over details, just a tense build up that explodes into chaos. What a pity this scene was used for the trailer as it comes as a complete shock.

Apparently Malkovich knocked on doors asking his fellow cast members to go over lines with him so... what you see on screen is not always what you get on set. Some actors took a mental photo of themselves - 'Me rehearsing with Malkovich.'

Watch out for the Australian cast, especially Anne Looby and Fiona Press. Press gives a great performance in the larger role. She has my vote for any award that looks like coming her way.

To see the 'Disgrace' trailer, click here:

Mad Persons

You certainly get a quick intro to this series when the advertising executives discuss a product and one asks "What is the woman's angle on this?" The leading man shrugs his shoulders and mutters "Who cares?". Its a shock and it should be.

Surely this beautiful series could not have come at a better time when people like me are longing for the 'put together' looks of Audrey Hepburn and the sharp hair cuts and tailored suits of the men of long ago. 'Mad Men' is about the time when women wore petticoats and suspenders and men wore hats and looked very fine in them too. Nobody wanted to be like a New York criminal and boys wore their jeans round their torsoes not their knees. But with all this snappy attire came cigarettes and sexism, very odd canapes and a giant amount of alcohol.

That's the awful fascination of this as you watch the men compete with each other for every step up the ladder, driving their wives mad with suspicion that turns into avarice while their husbands dally with mistresses from the office and then step casually into their fabulous cars, fully tanked themselves. And the racism is of another order altogether. It is all so beautifully done that wounds and insults slide by in a congenial fog of beauty and style and you are left at the end blinking at the closing credits following the 'Mad' Madison Avenue man as he spirals down the sheer cliff face of his multi storey office block.

Thank your lucky stars I say and give it a long hard look. We've come a long way and it was well worth the trouble.

To see a trailer of Mad Men Series 1&2, click here:

The State of Washington

In my constant quest to find as many films which feature older women in powerful roles as I can, here's another. 'State of Play' is a fast paced thriller with Helen Mirren as the Editor of The Washington Globe and Russel Crowe as the top reporter. She has great wisecracks, pithy retorts and quite a nice line in power dressing. Lean and tanned, she is showing the results of her years in L.A. but has lost none of the direct, disturbing focus she used to interrogate 'persons of interest' in 'Prime Suspect.'

I went to see a preview put on by 'Popcorn Taxi' - the gen Y conduit to the latest movies and their makers. In the time afterwards, they had director Kevin Macdonald on the phone from England. He explained his casting dilemma - with Brad Pitt leaving the movie only a week before the shoot as a result of a script disagreement. Russel Crowe stepped in and saved the day but still they had no rehearsal for what is a tense, tight, thriller. To see how many people are assembled for a big film like this,click on the 'What Just Happened' trailer for the Bruce Willis scene. Macdonald and Russel Crowe had a weekend to go over the role before Monday rolled in and the whole show began.

I don't know how people pull together a performance so fast when they have to be an ensemble for so much of it, let alone master an intricate plot line that grabs you from the initial short, sharp, shock through to the end. For 'Mao's Last Dancer' one of the overseas actors had the plot line for his character typed out in bold letters at the head of each scene. That's one way of knowing exactly where you stand.

To see the trailer for 'State of Play click here:

What just happened?

Well, I don't think this a comedy anyway. The movie starring Robert De Niro as a producer is almost a straight doco. Funny in parts but, when NIDA friend and long time film-going partner John Paramor, said he hated the 'Director' character, I asked if he had ever worked with people like that? His answer, 'YES' was so large there's not a big enough type face to write it.

De Niro is the revelation. Sometimes it's sad to see heroes age on screen but I was warned about his mellowing when I saw him interviewed in Cannes on TV. He sat low in his chair giggling like a baby, looking sweet and amiable. Is this the once 'Raging Bull?' He has stepped into a new persona you wouldn't have been able to imagine a decade ago. Calm and mature, there's a steadiness about him that belies all previous violence.

I always thought his best roles were 'Everyman in a Cold World' parts a la 'Midnight Run' but its a joy to see him as a thoughtful father, implacable businessman, wounded husband and amused entrepreneur. He is now the 'man of the world' even in the worst underwear in history and the film, made as it is by seasoned insiders, is a delight.

Go thinking to catch a glimpse of real Hollywood and then the humour emerges but there are no belly laughs. It's a world as weird as the deep waters of the oceans and as fascinating. The seduction scene in the men's loo when De Niro is approached by a perfect beauty murmuring soft endearments, is one of the spine chilling moments when you realise how hard marriages must be to maintain in FilmLand L.A.

One of the highlights is the calm power of the Studio Boss. I wonder how many creative people have wanted to say - change this or "I'll take this movie away from you and re-cut it myself"?

To see the trailer of 'What just happened?' click here:

Ask Grannie

The Spanish film festival was on in Sydney last week and a friend of mine who had lived in Spain, rang me. We decided on a film called 'The Anarchist's wife' which had good reviews while I dodged a ticket to an opera with a 'modern interpretation.' Arriving at dusk, I was offered a pamphlet which seemed to be a plot outline. The foyer was full of Sydney's Spanish population. I lined up at the box office to get my ticket to find another actress serving."How's things?""Fine thanks." "You?" "Fine." You often see familiar faces in box offices. I looked down at my pamphlet to find it an Anarchist manifesto.

The audience was the usual unruly bunch of what used to be called 'Pseuds'. Young and old pretending to know all about what they were about to see, plus a sprinkling of spaniards who were loud and happy and seemed to have brought their dinner. As the lights dimmed, there was no cessation of noise and I moved my head to one side to avoid the block of heads eagerly kissing each other in the seats in front.

The Anarchist's wife was of unearthly beauty and worryingly young. She seemed to have a very grown up child, a succession of fine fur coats and quite a lot of real estate. The Anarchist read out stirring speeches on rebel radio from besieged townships and sooner or later, they were parted. Ho Hum. Still somewhere along this unlikely fairy story, the wondrous earnestness of their acting and the domestic troubles of the 'interesting' times they were living through caught me unawares. I was carried along, fine fur coats and all through an hour and a half of Spanish Civil War and its consequences and came out feeling I knew a bit more about this time, which figures so heavily in our modern history. Especially the horrible aftermath of Spanish refugees and their flight to France. Strange to say, the wife didn't age much but her child grew to maidenhood and the Anarchist himself looked very worn. Rightly, as he had been through a civil war, a world war and a concentration camp.

I think that is the virtue of film festivals - you get to see how other countries handle their culture. The blackness which underlies the Spanish soul and sits side by side with its lustrous beauty, is a little unsettling. On screen they portray far more than Anglo Celts do - you wander into the loo with their characters and watch them in all sorts of daily activities that we would close the door on but still, they have a siren song of loveliness and honesty that is appealing. I'm not sure there was much of it in this film but it was alluring in the best sense. Not the least being the ugly rebellion of the long suffering daughter.

So...ask your parents or grandparents, as the film recommends us to do and see what they say about those times.

To see a german language trailer of 'The Anarchist's Wife' click here: