Month: February 2020

Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears

Rated: MMiss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears

Directed by: Tony Tilse

Produced by: Fiona Eagger

Written by: Deb Cox

Based on the Phryne Fisher Mystery Series of Books by: Kerry Greenwood

Starring: Essie Davis, Nathan Page, Rupert Penry-Jones, Miriam Margolyes, Daniel Lapaine, Jacqueline McKenzie, Izabella Yena, Khaled Naga, Nicole Chamoun, John Waters.

‘Let’s kick off our shoes and watch a movie,’ says Essie Davis at the Melbourne premiere, the setting fitting with the character Phryne Fisher being a Melbourne girl.

And hot on the heels (kicked off) of the highly successful TV, lady detective, crime series, Miss Fisher – one of the most successful television brands in Australia and overseas with episodes from the three series capturing audiences of more than a million each week in Australia with the series debut in France gaining an audience of 3.28 million – here, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears finds Phryne (Essie Davis) in the streets of 1929 Pakistan after 9pm.  With undesirables.

Still up to her saving-the-world-while-dressed-in-the-latest: bright red dresses and the glittering gold sequined fashion of the 1920s, we find Phryne still has no regard for the rules, ‘That’s because they happen to be written by men.’

Rebellion aside, Miss Fisher is on a new case – imagine a Bedouin tribe flourishing for hundreds to thousands of years that is suddenly buried by an apocalyptic sandstorm that covers up the murder of the entire tribe.

Except one lone girl, Shirin Abbas (Izabella Yena).

‘Don’t worry,’ says Phryne.  ‘I’ll find out who murdered your family.’

Based on the books written by Kerry Greenwood, the film has the same style as the TV series that will keep fans happy (although, some may miss side-kick Dot (Ashleigh Cummings) and hubby, Constable Hugh Collin (Hugo Johnstone-Burt)  making only a brief appearance), yet there’s more room for story and intrigue in the movie-length mystery taking Phryne to Jerusalem back to Australia all the way to the sandy deserts of Pakistan.

And it’s funny: ‘Jack, are you there?’ Miss Fisher asks.

‘No,’ he replies.

Yes, the romance continues between the two crime fighters, adding to the charm of the Miss Fisher franchise that translates to the movie here – along with the old worldly humour, clues circled in red lipstick, the belief curses are real and exchanges like:

‘You’re only trying to butter me up.’

‘Like a crumpet.’

So, ‘Forget the tea, crack open the champagne’: Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears is more of the same, but what’s wrong with that? It’s sweet and fun and deserves to be celebrated.

The Invisible Man

Rated: MA15+The Invisible Man

Directed by: Leigh Whannell

Screenplay and Screen Story by: Leigh Whannell

Produced by: Jason Blum, p. g. a., Kylie Du Fresne, p. g. a.,

Executive Produces: Leigh Whannell, Couper Samuelson, Beatriz Sequeira, Jeanette Volturno, Rosemary Blight, Ben Grant

Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.

‘He has figured out a way to be invisible.’

Watching waves from behind as they crash towards a dark shore gives a forboding sense of what’s to come.

The Invisible Man conjures thoughts of ghosts and the supernatural, yet writer and director, Leigh Whannell, known for his taste for the otherworldly (Insidious: Chapter 3) and horrific (Saw franchise) has given this new version of the invisible a modern twist.

I’m not going to give too much away, but the focus here is more about Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) escaping from Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), her optics guru, very rich and controlling boyfriend.

I was taken back to the 1991 film, Sleeping With The Enemy, as Cecilia prepares her escape from the imposing architecture of a cold and clinical space on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean, hiding her bag, planning the moment only to be haunted by the memory of Adrian telling her he would always find her.

And with a steam of warm breath in the cold outside from someone not visible, we see the invisible Adrian as he continues to stalk.

It’s these moments that impressed, the new and inventive creation of the invisible man.

The film could have turned twee, yet the idea felt new as the sound becomes muffled, dropping Cecilia into a world where an invisible man can exist.

I can’t say I was ever really terrified watching this film, but those silent moments waiting for the invisible to make good on the next threat shows restraint, allowing the gaps in between sound to ramp up the tension; the sound absent, like the man, yet the absent becoming something else, becoming the threat.

Composer, Benjamin Wallfisch (Blade Runner 2049, Shazam! and the It franchise) manages to add that extra layer to the story with the soundtrack which is such an important factor in a scary movie.

And Elisabeth Moss was made for this role, drawing strength from the bruised and battered, running from the one who would control her very thoughts; to show strength in a world where she sounds insane.

However, I feel like the story gets a bit loopy – getting confused about the relationships, like the single dad and best friend, James (Aldis Hodge).  I originally thought that James was the ex of Cecilia’s sister, Emily (Harriet Dyer).  And what made James and Cecilia such good friends?

There’s some great AHA! moments, but there’s times I questioned an obvious strategy like Cecilia’s obsession with ladders…

But the way the story’s shown is tight and restrained with the timing of those tense moments just right.

Who would have thought panning to a blank space on a wall or corner of the room could be scary?

Emma

Rated: PGEmma

Directed by: Autumn de Wilde

Written by: Eleanor Catton

Based on the Book Written by: Jane Austen

Produced by: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czemin

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy, Mia Goth, Miranda Hart, Josh O’Connor, Callum Turner, Rupert Graves, Gemma Whelan, Amber Anderson, Tanya Reynolds, Connor Swindells.

Love knows best.

Or, Emma (Anya Taylor-Joy) knows best.

Living in Highbury Park with her widowed father, Mr. Woodhouse (Bill Nighy), Emma spends her days indulged as she plots to match and make those around her, careful never to fall in unnecessary matrimony herself.

That’s what she tells herself and others, including the insufferable and righteous Mr. Knightly (Johnny Flynn), the brother to her new brother-in-law.  Mr. Knightly’s always on hand to point out her vanity.

Yes, Emma tells herself she doesn’t want marriage as she uses her influence to partner her new project and friend, Miss Harriet Smith (Mia Goth) with someone she thinks Harriet’s equal, the local vicar Mr. Elton (Josh O’Connor) (and not the besotted farmer Robert Martin (Connor Swindells), whom Harriet really cares for).

But underneath a cool demeanour Emma can’t stop the flutter of her heart when she hears of the return of the very handsome, Frank Churchill (Callum Turner).

Can you sense the period drama?

Based on the novel penned by Jane Austen (published in late December 1815), there’s plenty of lace and bonnets and piano forte playing and performance.

I admit, I could not have been in less of a mood to watch pomp and ceremony.

But despite my sigh of boredom at the beginning of the film, I found there was a sweetness and intrigue that I was slowly drawn into, helped along with the dry wit of Bill Nighy as Emma’s cantankerous but really warm-hearted father who considers a day at a wedding a truly awful day.

He’s always searching for that cold draft determined to flow through the house from some crack or cranny.

It’s really the comedy that saves this film, subtle, shown in a glance, a tsk, or a flummoxed, energetic jump from stair to floor.

So yes, sweet and funny with, Anya Taylor-Joy well-cast as the handsome, clever and rich Emma.

But this is a long movie (117 minutes), dragging with a yawn and watch-check in the first half hour, and then again when approaching the two-hour mark.

You’ve got to be in the mood for the period romance that is Emma – hence the release in time for a tolerable viewing on Valentine’s Day.

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