Tag Archives: 3 stars

Room (2015)

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This Irish/Canadian drama has an interesting premise. We meet five-year-old Jack and his mother, Ma. They go about the ordinary business of domestic life in their home but it soon becomes apparent that Ma and Jack are confined to a single room. It takes a while for us to discover why and, for a while, we are no more than arm’s length from them, seeing everything through their eyes. On the surface, the film explores the challenges we face in life and the courage we may find within ourselves but it also posits a deeper question – how much do we need to protect children from the world? Continue reading →

The Danish Girl (2015)

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Oh goodness me. Another film inspired by a true story. This one couldn’t be more different from The Revenant in style and sensibility, although I reckon it might also be playing to the Academy Award crowd. Eddie Redmayne plays Einar Wegener, a Danish artist in the 1920s who was the first publicly-known person to undergo gender reassignment when he became Lili Elbe. The Danish Girl focuses on him/her and Gerda, Einar’s wife and fellow artist. The story is…nice, palatable, inoffensive. Transgender packaged up neatly for a heterosexual world. Continue reading →

The Revenant (2015)

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I have mixed feelings about this movie, a visceral and epic story of survival in the frigid wilds of 19th century South Dakota. Hollywood and ‘inspired by a true story’ make me wary. Usually it means notions of heroism have been cranked up to 11 and drama has been fabricated to keep us 21st century viewers engaged. Add Leonardo DiCaprio and, at nearly three hours long, you know this has Academy Award intentions. But. This is directed by Alejandro Iñárritu, the Mexican director of Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros and Birdman, so it will never be ordinary. Continue reading →

All is Lost (2013)

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All is Lost is the Robert Redford film where he is the only cast member and there is no dialogue. This is all I knew about this film and it was enough to make me want to watch it. Peripheral anecdotes had seemed positive, along the lines of surprise at how watchable the film was, even without dialogue. Redford plays a sailor who seems to be in his sixties or seventies (Redford is 77 but not surprisingly has fewer lines and grey hairs than you would expect) who is sailing alone on a rather nice yacht. An unexpected accident happens that damages his yacht and from then, we see him struggle from one mishap to another as his situation becomes more serious. Continue reading →

Magic Magic (2013)

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This is the Sebastian Silva film that I had originally booked and then got the recommendation to see The Maid. I really liked that one and I suspected that this wouldn’t be as good. It wasn’t, but he has won me over as a director and I’m now intrigued to see more of his films.

Alicia is a California girl joining her cousin Sarah for a break in Chile. With some Chilean and American friends they head south to a remote coastal location where they are surrounded by the mess and noise of nature. It becomes clear that Alicia is suffering from some kind of breakdown and the isolation, geographically and emotionally from those around her, means she quickly spirals into psychosis. Continue reading →

Louder Than Bombs (2015)

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This is listed as a Norwegian film, as the director Joachim Trier is from Norway, but it’s set in the US with mainly Hollywood actors so it feels American. It has an interesting and promising premise. A widower struggles to communicate with his two sons after the death of their mother, Isabelle. She was a celebrated war photographer and it soon becomes apparent that she took her own life. Continue reading →

Documentary Shorts

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I added a shorts package to my repertoire to broaden my horizons. Shorts packages are a bit of a lucky dip. I didn’t read up on what they were, preferring to be surprised. It was an 11am session on a Sunday and today’s a four film day so I knew it was going to be a full day. And I didn’t get time to grab a coffee beforehand. Can you see where I’m going with this? Continue reading →

Sleeping with Other People (2015)

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Tonight’s film was a change of pace for me as it was a very mainstream US romantic comedy. The main actors were all a bit familiar, I think some were from Parks and Recreation, and it revolved around the tried and true When Harry Met Sally storyline about men and women not being able to be friends. Jake and Lainey meet and briefly hook up. Around 15 years later, as she tries to extricate herself from an affair and he refuses to commit to any women, they become friends. I won’t tell you how it ends but it is a mainstream American romcom so you’ve probably already worked it out. Continue reading →

Prophet’s Prey (2015)

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Some stories deserve to be told because they are so outrageous you wouldn’t believe they could really happen. This is one of those. When Joseph Smith, the ‘prophet’ of the Latter-day Saints, retracted his revelation requiring polygamy, ostensibly because of a new revelation from God, but coincidentally after societal and governmental censure and prosecution, groups of fundamentalists broke with the church to set up their own polygamous colonies. One, at least, of those remains today, led by the Jeffs family. Continue reading →