250W: Nightcrawler

Short reviews for clear and concise verdicts on a broad range of films...

Nightcrawler (Dir. Dan Gilroy/2014)

Based on the west coast streets, with the orange haze and branded bill-boards, Nightcrawler comes out of the dark with a sordid capitalist tale to tell. Starring a wide-eyed Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, videographer of the LA boulevards, it’s a name he won’t let you forget. He captures the bloody crimes that dominate the morning television screens across the local area. Leeching off the ills of society, his role is needed because it makes money. His “professional” and guide-to-success etiquette may be creepy, but it makes money. Indeed, a parable about the flawed supply-and-demand system is about making money. Nightcrawler has the atmosphere of Michael Mann’s underrated Collateral, and the tech-savvy and internet-taught education of The Bling Ring. It also benefits from a stellar cast that hold Gyllenhaal’s focused mad man firmly on centre stage. Nina (Rene Russo), the pressured TV exec whose job depends on his material. She is strong, but his psychopathic and emotionless demeanour is stronger. Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) is an old pro, well-versed on the highways and byways, with his own ambitions to expand. His time has passed, and Bloom knows it. But the stand-out star is Riz Ahmed. Ahmed’s luckless chancer, Rick, desperately needs the ‘opportunities’ Bloom promises, but like many corporate promises, Bloom fails to honour them. Nightcrawler is a dark, pulsating drama, with a grimy underbelly that reveals the darkness behind our glossy western media. This is the American Dream without the humanity – and, like the morning news, it’s completely fascinating.

Rating: 8/10

250W: Birdman

Short reviews for clear and concise verdicts on a broad range of films...

Birdman (Dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu / 2014)

With Rope and Russian Ark before it, the single-shot film imitates the theatre as you have nowhere to hide. Birdman takes us to Broadway, whereby an aging film actor (Michael Keaton) is keen to make his stage debut. Of course, in this modern-age, director Iñárritu uses subtle effects to make a week-long show last one shot. But this creative decision is not a stylistic flourish merely there to imitate last year’s Gravity. From the intense manager (Zach Galifianakis) to his out-of-rehab daughter (Emma Stone), every actor in this ensemble ensure that this is a film sewing together the fraying edges of this forgotten star rather than a single story relying on two people on a blank canvas. There is an arresting introduction of Ed Norton’s instinctive, board-tredding alcoholic as his genius and fatal flaws are revealed in a dualogue between Norton and Keaton. Emma Stone ferociously confronts the relevance of her father in a tech-savvy, superhero-obsessed age. In fact, the screenplay (written by Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, Iñárritu and Armando Bo) hints at the true meaning behind Hollywood’s obsession with comics – as they are separate to this cold, busy world. They are, literally, above it all. And crucially, Keaton’s ‘Birdman’ (or Batman) was once among the stars. Even Norton and Stone know the glittering-lights of the spandex-wearing world after their respective turns in The Incredible Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man. Not to be missed, Birdman tackles truth and forces you to see the humanity of our hollow adoration of heroes.

Rating: 9/10

The Green Ray (Eric Rohmer, 1986)

It is a timeless fact that your mid-twenties can be a daunting place. Richard Linklater’s Boyhood has won plaudits this year by only taking the young man to his late teens – Eric Rohmer, an inspiration to Linklater, is more interested in the summer of a single woman in her mid-twenties. Both filmmakers’ know how to capture a moment and freely utilise the flexibility of acting and truth to adapt and develop their art. Rohmer, in The Green Ray, even credits his lead actress Marie Rivière as co-script-writer to prove her crucial involvement. The Green Ray is deeply personal, capturing the brutal honesty of loneliness with an optimistic attitude towards finding your fated one.

The opening of The Green Ray reveals Delphine (Rivière) picking up a phone call from a friend. Due to start her holiday, she unexpectedly has her plans change as the friend cancels. Torn between what to do, she tastes a little bit of the summer by visiting friends and family. She enjoys meals and wanders the beautiful hills of the French Alps. She ventures to rural beaches and contemplates the future and sunbathes on the tourist resorts, considering whether to hunt a man as she reflects on what she has to offer. Sequences are dated, as a visual diary, as Rohmer manages to capture her stolen glances and considered thoughts. There is truth in Rivière’s eyes as a moment resting on a wooden gate manages to reduce her to tears. In fact, we see many moments whereby Delphine cries. Her despair at the situation she’s in is only amplified by her self-chosen isolation. She wants sun, so refuses to go to Ireland. She doesn’t eat meat or sail and therefore cannot partake in many meals and jaunts into the sea. Only the momentary glance at a gentleman in a train station changes her fate – as they await the green ray on the horizon in St. Jean de Luz.

The title is taken from a Jules Verne novel from 1882, whereby “heroes” search for the green ray in the sunset of Scotland. The locations Delphine visits manage to conjure up a sense of romance, warmth and happiness – a stark contrast to the lonesome, sadness we see in her eyes. There is a soothing familiarity in her tenderness. When she opens up to her friends, you can feel her frustration. Her stubborn self-confidence in her decisions can’t mask her human frailty and a desire to be with someone. Can she be with previous lover, Jean-Pierre, again? She explains how she has been in love three times and had a fiancé, but this does not give her courage. The mystical green-ray is the only sign she needs. Akin to the tarot cards she finds and the green clothes worn by characters. Auspicious moments such as these are what move her forward, not bullish man-hunting that can be found in her new friend in Biarritz.

This reality is what draws us to The Green Ray. And what draws us to Francois Truffaut. And to Richard Linklater. Like Jesse and Cèline in Before Sunset, the emotional connection is one we all feel. Delphine’s truth is what deepens our respect for filmmaker Eric Rohmer, who has the confidence to simply observe those personal moments. None of the pretentiousness of Woody Allen’s upper-class or Richard Curtis’ smart-alec characterisations. The respect we hold is one of honesty. It’s the reason why Rohmer, and the French New Wave, is so important. Life isn’t glossy and Hollywood. It is the longest take and it never cuts away. That’s what Rohmer tries to do - and that’s what makes it a glorious experience to view on the cinema screen.

Written originally for Flickering Myth on January 2nd 2015

250W: X-Men: Days of Future Past

Short reviews for clear and concise verdicts on a broad range of films...

X-Men: Days of Future Past (Dir. Bryan Singer/2014)

The announcement of X-Men: Days of Future Past after the success of First Class was inspired. Between a dismal solo-Wolverine movie and an appalling ‘final chapter’, the series that kicked off the superhero genre in 2000, had spectacularly imploded. This time-travelling adventure with old favourites (Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Halle Berry, Ellen Page and Hugh Jackman) and the new crew (Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and James McAvoy) would give the series a new lease of life. Involving sentinels and a morbid dystopia that has destroyed everything (except for pretty Chinese temples), Professor X sends Wolverine back in time to save the future by leading his younger rebellious self into battle. It isn’t perfect, and the enormous cast unfortunately seems to complicate matters rather than illuminate. Unnecessary conflict between Magneto and Xavier muddy the plot, confusing the core narrative whereby Mystique simply needs to be stopped from committing her first murder. But there are nods to almost every film in the series. Director Bryan Singer successfully makes X-Men relevant again in this Avengers-age of blockbusters. Evolution is central to all of the X-Men stories, and DOFP evolves into a beast that celebrates the history of the series (akin to the Fast and Furious franchise) while committing to a future that looks bright. For example, newcomer Quicksilver (Evan Peters) steals the screen within the few minutes he appears. A glorious reboot, X-Men: Days of Future Past is not to be missed and a worthy excuse to revisit every other metal-clawed, X-Men adventure.

Rating: 8/10

Nb - 150 word reviews of all the X-Men films are accessible by clicking here

150W: The Imitation Game

Short reviews for clear and concise verdicts on a broad range of films...

The Imitation Game (Dir. Morten Tyldum/2014)

Benedict Cumberbatch plays mathematical mastermind Alan Turing in sincere awards-fodder drama, The Imitation Game. Cumberbatch, Kiera Knightley and Matthew Goode all live up to their classically-trained, acting expectations. But the narrative seems intent on ticking boxes to gain critical plaudits. Veering between his life at an independent boy’s school and his cracking of the Enigma code, The Imitation Game juxtaposes his heroic achievements with his prohibited sexuality. This leaves a jarring lack of connection between his personal and professional exploits. In a desperate hook for a young-demographic, Cumberbatch portrays Turing as The Social Network’s Zuckerberg as his snarky remarks and arrogance are condoned considering his accepted genius. The justifying of death on the front line and ‘government-mandated’ hormone treatment hint at darker shades, but they’re not the focus. Instead, it’s an imitation of true-stories we’ve seen before. Stroppy arguments, fractitious friendships and a “challenging” subplot set in a historical period.

Rating: 6/10

Extra -  Even the poster rips off The Social Network too ...