Category: Cerebral – movies that get you thinking

Eye in the Sky

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.9/5)

Director: Gavin HoodEye In The Sky

Screenplay: Guy Hibbert

Starring: Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi, Lain Glen, Phoebe Fox, Jeremy Northam.

I was completely absorbed by this film, from beginning to end.

I’m not a fan of war movies.  I find the violence a little too real and disturbing because it is all too true.  But Eye in the Sky isn’t one of those blood and guts type of films, it analyses the hierarchy, the politics of war.  It makes murderers of all involved.

What a fascinating take on such a complicated issue.  We are at war, but from the comforts of our homes.

Directions are made behind closed doors and bombs dropped from drones.  War, in these days, is an ethical conundrum.

There was no loss of momentum in this film, even though the focus was a quiet examination made through dialogue between the characters; the suspense in waiting for difficult decisions that must be made. Not an easy task and very well handled by director, Gavin Hood (Tsotsi (2005), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Ender’s Game (2013)).  He lets the characters tell the story in the simplicity of one day, one long moment shown in all its depth and complexity.  And using this linear time-line and keeping it simple, the film felt authentic.

Helen Mirren was perfectly cast as Colonel Katherine Powell.  A tough as nails, uncompromising military soldier who never waivers from her duty.  And mixed emotions seeing Alan Rickman in his final performance as Lieutenant General Frank Benson: a sympathetic character showing his humanity under the cast iron soul of a soldier.  Hard to believe this brilliant actor will no longer grace our screens.

It was interesting to have the curtains drawn back to show what happens behind the closed doors of war.  I can only sympathise with the people who have to make decisions to try and save as many lives as possible.  Deciding what are the legal, ethical and moral ramifications behind the killing of people in a different country – and whose life is worth more.

Eye in the Sky was thought-provoking, suspenseful and moving without theatrics.  A film to get people talking about issues that need to be spoken about.

 

Clouds of Sils Maria

Clouds_of_Sils_Maria_film_poster

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★

Written and Directed by: Olivier Assayas

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Kirsten Stewart, Chloë Grace Moretz.

Maria, made famous in her youth by acting in a play, Maloja Snake, is on her way to accept an award from the playwright Wilhelm Melchior.

Previously playing the part of Sigrid, a young girl who callously uses and dumps an older woman, Maria is now asked to play in the film again, but this time as the older woman.  She reluctantly agrees, and her assistant, Valentine, moves with her to Sils Maria to rehearse the part.

What struck me first in this film was the dialogue and ideas the script portrays. A script within a script gives complexity to the relationship between the main character, Maria Enders played by Juliette Binoche and Valentine (Kirsten Stewart).

The two great characters of two different ages interact via the dialogue of the script that inevitably becomes blurred. But the strength of the protagonist, Maria, overcomes the power of the script and shows her true character, that as an actress, she may age but as a person, she can always learn.  She can be timeless no matter the chaos of the world and the opinions of those who surround her.

The film was a success because of the wonderful acting. I believed every character. Even the fakely nice, JoAnn Ellis (Chloe Grace Moretz), the young American actress cast to play the role of Sigrid. I believed she was fake.

The cloud shifting, drifting through the pass of the mountains, the snake, is a beautiful scenic device used to demonstrate the ever changing journey of the characters, and yet, the core, the mountains, remain the same.

The film was shot on location at Sils Maria, Switzerland and also Zurich, Leipzig, Germany and South Tyrol, Italy.

Beautiful scenery always makes it worth the while to see on the big screen. And the two films of the same scene (one from many years previous compared to the current) is another device to show the two generations: the snake of cloud flowing through the pass of life that we all follow. The opinion of others may blow as wind on a cloud, but the core of our personality guides us through the mountainous pass of our lives.

Sorry about the cheese, but I was quite affected by this film.

I liked this film. I liked the characters. There is a real depth and authenticity of feeling, of personality.

You can allow the drift of cloud, to fall, to run over us, but the mountain and the path remains the same.

Having a different opinion to others is not a bad thing. We all view the same object or story differently, depending on our age and life experience. The film highlights the difficulty of remaining impassive to others and yet taking a view of oneself in order to know ourselves a little better. Sometimes, others will congratulate this independence and sometimes, people will leave us.

 

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