Category: Drama

Women Talking

Star Rating: ★★★★

Rated: MWomen Talking

Directed by: Sarah Polley

Screenplay by: Sarah Polley

Based on the Book by: Miriam Toews

Starring: Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw, Judith Ivey, Michelle Mcleod, Sheila McCarthy, Kate Hallett, Kira Gulolen, August Winter, Abigail Winter.

When is forgiveness giving permission?

Being tranquilised and raped and beaten and told it’s just a women’s wild imagination.  That it’s ghosts, that it’s Satan, that it’s…

Until they catch one.

One of the men from their village, who then tells of the others so they’re arrested.  But now, they are being freed and the women told to forgive and forget.

Leaving the women faced with a decision: Do nothing, stay and fight or leave.

Based on the book written by Miriam Toews, Women Talking is inspired by the story of the Manitoba Colony.  Miriam is quoted describing her book as an, ‘imagined response to real events.’

See article here: The shocking true story behind new film Women Talking (harpersbazaar.com)

But rather than focus on the abuse the women have suffered at the hands of the men they have spent their entire lives looking after, this is a film about the discussion surrounding their decision of what is the best way forward.

They’ve never been taught to read or write, they’ve never been allowed to think because they were brought up to believe no one cared about what they thought.

But they know what crimes have been committed against them.

Now, they must weigh-up the pros and cons of each path.

There are many bitter-sweet moments in this film, the patience of old mother Agata (Judith Ivey), the righteous anger of Salome (Claire Foy), the wanting what’s best from Greta (Sheila McCarthy), the tolerance of Ona (Rooney Mara), Mariche’s (Jessie Buckley) need to forgive because of fear.

I liked the balance, the analyses, the discussion.

They believe if they fight or leave, they won’t be forgiven by God.  If they leave, they leave their sons, their husbands.

It’s women talking, yes, but there’s the addition of August (Ben Whishaw) taking the minutes of the discussion.  He loves Ona.  His family was exiled.  He went to college.  He’s returned and now teaches the children.  His mother spoke against the power dynamic of the community.  He’s passive.  Like the women have been taught the goodness of being passive.

But what is the misuse of forgiveness?  When is forgiveness, permission?

This is a thoughtful film that wasn’t as expected, that wasn’t the traumatic film I thought I was walking into.  I related to the characters in this film.

It was refreshing to hear a woman explain if she was married she would no longer be the woman he wanted to marry.  She would be no longer be her.  And I liked the wilfulness of these trapped women, the sometimes off-kilter humour where some wonder why some cope and keep moving forward while others, don’t.

There are moments of beauty, with a soundtrack opening the door to insights shared, but what a strange soundtrack to finish such a poignant film.  Which highlighted the slightly off-tone at times, like the strangeness of the outsiders driving with music blasting through the community in an attempt to take the census of the population.

How strange to hide.  To not want to be counted.

A thoughtful and bittersweet film that I hope will lead to a wider discussion.  To lead to a better understanding of the soul searching required to take oneself out of an abusive situation caused by those who are supposed to care and love.  To decide to continue being trapped by a society that has led to abuse.  Or risk being unforgiven.  And what it means, to forgive.

 

The Fabelmans

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★☆

Rated: MThe Fabelmans

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Written by: Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner

Produced by: Kristie Macosko Krieger p.g.a, Steven Spielberg p.g.a, Tony Kushner p.g.a

Executive Produced by: Carla Raij, Josh McLaglen

Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBell and Judd Hirsch.

‘Movies are dreams.’

I think we can all safely assume, The Fabelmans is based on Steven Spielberg’s life.

Co-writer and director, I thought it was risky trying to get the right perspective to make a film about your own life.  Yet, I couldn’t help but be charmed by this movie.

Put together over 16 years of interviews and ‘intense conversations and writing sessions that Spielberg only half-jokingly likens to “therapy,” Spielberg with playwright and screenwriter, Tony Kushner, ‘turned the defining experiences of his childhood into the fiction of The Fabelmans.’

Spielberg says, ‘Everything that a filmmaker puts him or herself into, even if it’s somebody else’s script, your life is going to come spilling out onto celluloid, whether you like it or not. It just happens. But with The Fabelmans, it wasn’t about the metaphor; it was about the memory.’

Opening in 1952, we see young Sam (Gabriel LaBelle) taken to his first moving picture.

He’s terrified.

His mother, Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams) is enthusiastic.

His father, Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano) decides explaining the mechanics behind the film will make the watching less scary.

The Greatest Movie Ever Made is kinda scary for a kid, with train crashes and smashed cars flying through the air.

The Fabelman’s is a little hammy, with a forced brightness at the introduction.

Yet Sammy’s obsession with film starts right here.  In understanding and recreating that train wreck.  To regain control.

What starts with a 50s disposable charm, becomes something more.

It’s a coming-of-age film but also shines a light on the parents: the difficulties of marriage, of being an individual, of being free.  Of knowing yourself.

It’s cheesy, funny, edgy and brilliant in the way the characters are revealed; the timing and sometimes raw emotion eased into existence so this family of: genius father, artistic mother, always-along-for-the-ride best friend Bennie (Seth Rogen), the three sisters and film making obsessed son, begins like a carbon copy to become an ocean.  All to the music of Mitzi playing piano, flamboyant 50s jive, or the orchestral soundtrack of a film made by the young Sam, his eye always there, his understanding of effects learned like a revelation, his ability to draw emotion from his young actors made like an understanding of his own.

The whole drama of the film crept up on me, with small pops of humour like luggage falling from the back of a trailer or Uncle Boris (Judd Hirsch) home to grieve his dead sister (Sam’s grandmother), telling Sam, ‘She was your grandmother, so tear your clothes and sleep on the floor.’

I write notes during a movie to help keep track, to remember for my review later.  And sometimes, when it’s a good movie, it sounds like this:

Moving pictures

Sleeping with an oscilloscope

Jesus is sexy

Shopping trollies spinning by

Everything happens for a reason

Something real not imaginary

Arizona

Metaphoric filming of a family falling apart

Thinking like an engineer

Movies are dreams you never forget

The audience clapping at the ending.

I kinda fell in love with The Fabelmens because there was something genuine in the feeling, the characters rounded-out without slapping the face with it.

And the audience clapping at a preview screening?  That’s a rare treat.

 

Blueback

Rated: PGBlueback

Directed by: Robert Connolly

Written by: Robert Connolly

Based on the Book Blueback by: Tim Winton

Additional Writing: Tim Winton

Composer: Nigel Westlake

Produced by: Liz Kerney, James Grandison and Robert Connolly

Executive Producers: Andrew Myer, Robert Patterson, Eric Bana, Joel Pearlman, Joanna Baevski, Ricci Swart, Lorraine Tarabay, Nicolas Langley, Hayley Ballie, James Baillie, Michele Turnure-Salleo, Arthur Humphrey

Starring: Mia Wasikowsk, Radha Mitchell, Ilsa Fogg, Liz Alexander, Ariel Donoghue, Clarence Ryan, Pedrea Jackson, Eric Thomson, Eddie Baroo and Eric Bana.

‘I’ll keep him safe forever.’

Abby grew up in the water.  She lived on the coast with her mother who fought every day to save Longboat Bay (filmed on the coast of Western Australia, Bremer Bay) from overfishing, dredging, destruction.

We’re introduced to the underwater world with a classical soundtrack (Nigel Westlake), the world of light through the blue water reflecting off a school of fish swimming, a stingray, a turtle.  It’s majestic.

But with the discovery of bleached coral and Dora (young mother, Dora played by Radha Mitchell) chaining herself to bulldozers in protest, I thought I was heading into the doom and gloom of a bleak conservationist movie.  So that underwater world took on a sinister aspect.

It’s a slow start.

Based the Tim Winton book, Blueback, there’s the classic Aussie way of life that threads the story of Blueback together: the school drop-off, the lovable Aussie larrikin Mad Macca (Eric Bana).

The coast, the water, the beach, the marine life is such a large part of being Australian there’s a reason we want to keep it, to protect it.

To give the marine life focus, Abby (teenage Abby played by, Ilsa Fogg) discovers a huge Blue Groper she names, Blueback.

He’s old and wise but he comes out of his underwater cave to play because he feels safe with her.  And Abby will do anything to protect Blueback.

See below for more information about the beautiful and fascinating Blue Groper.

Fish in focus – Western Blue Groper | Western Australian Museum

The film evolves with flashbacks to Abby’s childhood (Ariel Donoghue as young Abby), growing up to a teenager with her mum.  Born to be in the water, Abby becomes a professor (Mia Wasikowska as adult Abby) of marine biology, to continue to protect the wildlife she loves. Like Blueback.

‘Your home is dying, and I don’t know how to help.’

But there’s more to the tale than the message of how important it is to save our oceans, the story’s also about growing up, about home and what it means to be born with the ocean in your blood.

I couldn’t help but become attached to the life on the screen.

I admit to getting teary.  In a good way.

Yes, it took a while to get into the story but there’s a difference here because instead of a bleak climate change message, I left the cinema feeling good.  Feeling, hopeful.  And we all need a bit of hope these days.

 

Bones and All

Rated: MA15+Bones and All

Directed by: Luca Guadagnino

Screenplay by: David Kajganich

Based on: Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis

Produced by: Luca Guadagnino, Theresa Park, Marco Morabito, David Kajganich

Cinematography: Arseni Khachaturan

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance, Chloë Sevigny, Michael Stuhlbarg, Madeleine Hall, David Gordon Green and André Holland.

‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’

Bones and All is more drama than horror, where the focus is on the ordinary to make the monsters more believable.

Maren (Taylor Russell) is like any other teenager: she makes friends at school, plays piano, her dad (André Holland) sets a curfew.  He locks her in at night.

That’s the first clue that something’s not quite right.

Then at a girls-night-in, Maren tears the flesh from the finger of her new friend.  And it’s time to move on.  Again.

Maren is an eater.

She’s pretty good at being on her own.  When she goes in search of her mother (Chloë Sevigny), she finds out there’re other eaters out there.  And they can smell if there’s another one around.

That’s when she meets Sully (Mark Rylance).  With a matchstick in his mouth and a feather in his hat, he’s hard to miss.

Lee (Timothée Chalamet) is also an eater.  But he doesn’t eat human flesh in his y-fronts like Sully.  He dosses around, eats because he has to; and the rest of the time, he tries to be his normal self.

Lee’s the friend Maren never knew she could have.

They’re kinda sweet together.  In between the eating.

There’s a strange poetry to the filming of Bones and All (cinematographer, Arseni Khachaturan), with shots like a tableau to illustrate moments of Lee and Maren’s journey:  shots of blood, daisies in a glass jar, the empty rooms of a sanitised house, a beaded necklace left under a bed.

It’s quiet to make those moments poignant but also makes the journey slow and dry at times.

This is offset with the layering of Maren’s father, Frank’s voice on a cassette, telling her story; added together with flashbacks to nightmares as Maren and Lee struggle to be who they are, to be eaters.  To eat people to live or the only other alternatives, suicide or being locked up.

Maybe love will save them.

It’s a point of difference, director Luca Guadagnino (some of his previous films: A Bigger Splash (2015) – loved it, Call Me by Your Name (2017) – award winning, and Suspiria (2018) – which I also enjoyed) giving the film a tone of normality; making the story about love, about the journey, about the ordinary, about the monsters.

With all the different threads and strangely quiet tone, it just didn’t quite pull together for me.

All the story’s there, but the tone didn’t hit quite right.

I enjoyed hearing the tapes from Maren’s father talking about her backstory, her origin more than the drama of it.

The film was made to make the eaters more human with a love story and family drama.  They just happened to eat people – ‘how dare you make this harder.’

And we never find out why.

 

She Said

Rated: MShe Said

Directed by: Maria Schrader

Produced by: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner

Executive Produced by: Brad Pitt, Lila Yacoub, Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle

Based on the New York Times Investigation by: Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and Rebecca Corbett and the Book, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey

Screenplay by: Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle with Samantha Morton and Ashley Judd.

‘He took my voice that day, just when I was starting to find it.’

It’s sobering to remember back to the times before the #MeToo movement, the moment when women found a voice to say, enough.

And the spark that began that conversation, to begin to unpack the silence around the systemic abuse of women and the system that protected those that thought it was OK to sexual abuse women was the New York Times investigative journalists, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor.

Based on the book, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, and the article written by the two journalists, Twohey and Kantor, ‘Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades’ (2017), She Said the film, shows the events leading up to publication; the interviews with women silenced by pay-offs and shame and coverups.

Back to when Rose McGowan spoke, no, shouted what needed to be said, to try to fight the machine built to protect abuses while ignoring the abused or even inflicting more punishment on those who dared to speak out.

And so the silence continued.

Reminiscent of Spotlight (2015), the film follows Twohey and Kantor as they work through the research: the meetings, making calls, the reviewing with senior editors, the back and forth – have they got a story here?  Are the rumors true?  Will anyone go on the record against Harvey Weinstein?

As the executive running two of the biggest names out there, Miramax and the Weinstein Company, Weinstein was able to intimidate and silence survivors with settlements and non-disclosure agreements for decades.

But after an article in the New York Times was posted about the claims of abuse against Bill O’Reilly leading to O’Reilly being fired from Fox News (in 2017), they could say, as investigative journalists, their article made a difference.  They were heard and when advertisers started to withdraw from Fox News, the powers that be were forced to take action.

And from that perspective, perhaps there was more to these rumors, making the story of Weinstein’s abuse was worth pursuing.

It’s an emotive story but shown through the clear-eyes of the journalists putting the story together.

Director Maria Schrader says. ‘It’s a very dramatic story, with strong characters up against steep odds and a powerful antagonist, crisscrossing the globe and jumping back and forth in time. This material was so rich to begin with, the task was teasing out its particulars, not heightening or overdramatizing what was already there.’

The abuse isn’t shown in the film, as Schrader notes, ‘I am not interested in adding another rape scene to the world,’ she continues. ‘We’ve had enough of them.’

Instead, the damage is shown by seeing a young Irish girl, 1992, excited to become part of the movie business as a runner, to flash forward to 2016, to see that same girl running down a busy street in New York with tears streaming down her face.

After so many pieces of the story filtering through the news over the years, it was interesting to see the linear picture, to see the story of Weinstein’s downfall and the beginning of a movement that literally changed the world.

I found the leads, Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan as the journalists, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey in the film likeable, relatable; scary how the stories are relatable.  And including Ashley Judd as herself (I’m a big fan of Judd and this just makes me admire her more) in the film and the audio taped while a wire was used to catch Weinstein in the act made an emotive storyline a powerful one.

Not a film I would normally enjoy watching, but there’s a careful constraint here, so the story can be heard rather than turning the audience away.

 

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris

Rated: PGMrs. Harris goes to Paris

Directed by: Anthony Fabian

Based on the Novel by: Paul Gallico

Screenplay by: Carroll Cartwright, Anthony Fabian, Keith Thompson, Olivia Hetreed

Produced by: Xavier Marchand, Guillaume Benski, Anthony Fabian

Starring: Lesley Manville, Isabelle Huppert, Jason Isaacs, Anna Chancellor, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo, Rose Williams.

To make the invisible, visible.

It’s 1957 London – it’s foggy.  Mrs. Harris (Lesley Manville) holds a package.

‘What’s it to be Eddy?’  She asks of the package, of her husband who’s been missing since 1944.  ‘Good news?  Or bad news?’

It doesn’t matter what a flip of a coin will determine.  Mrs. Harris will always want to believe in the good.

One of her clients she cleans for, a want-to-be actress named Pamela Penrose (Rose Williams) tells her,’ You’re an angel.  What would I do without you?’

Mrs. Harris wants for nothing; and puts up with a lot.  She spends her time with best friend, Vi (Ellen Thomas), whom she met while building planes during the war.

Then while cleaning for Lady Dant (Anna Chancellor), Mrs. Harris sees it.  The dress.  The camera focusses on her face of wonder, the world around her a blur as she takes the lilac dress, handling the beading, her face glowing.  It’s a Christian Dior, Lady Dant explains.  ‘When I put it on, nothing else matters.’

Mrs. Harris dreams.

Then when life seems like it’s never going to get any better, she wins the Pools.  That’s when she decides she does want something: she wants a Christian Dior dress, from Paris, for 500 quid.

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris is superficially a lighthearted tale, showing the very best of human nature, while also exploring Sartre’s philosophy of existentialism in, Being and Nothingness (1943).

The theme of perception and nothingness is introduced when Mrs. Harris meets French model, Natasha (Alba Baptista) who’s found to be reading Sartre, who also wants to be seen, not in a wonderful Christian Dress, but as someone more than a pretty face.  It’s that invisible being made visible thread that drives the film so yes, it’s about a woman wanting a beautiful dress but more than that, she deserves to be seen.

And the Parisians take Mrs. Harris and her down-to-earth humour and niceness and honesty into their hearts.

Because she’s a wonder, with cash to spend on a Haute Couture dress.

They love her for it.

She’s reminded, ‘Remember in France, the Worker is King.’

All except the manageress of the House of Christian Dior, Claudine Colbert (Isabelle Huppert) who resists the indelible Mrs. Harris.

Dior is exclusive.

There had to be some challenge to the story of the English cleaner who charms her way into the exclusive House.

I admit I got teary at times, mostly when Mrs. Harris was misunderstood or not seen, for being too nice but then to be understood, to bring the lightness up again; the film’s about an intelligent, honest and kind woman wanting to feel beautiful, to be acknowledged.  And that always strikes a chord.

Yes, it’s a little frothy, the wonder in Mrs. Harris’s face as she swoons at the Dior dresses, but the dresses are beautiful and there’s a consistent dry humour that balances the sweetness.

This is a delightful watch with some thought-provoking moments if you’re looking for it, that lifts.

 

Bros

Rated: MA15+Bros

Directed by: Nicholas Stoller

Written by: Billy Eichner & Nicholas Stoller

Produced by: Judd Apatow p.g.a, Nicolas Stoller p.g.a and Josh Church p.g.a

Executive Produced by: Billy Eichner and Karl Frankenfield

Score: Marc Shaiman

Starring: Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane, Guy Branum, Miss Lawrence, Ts Madison, Dot-Marie Jones, Jim Rash, Eve Lindley, Monica Raymund, Guillermo Díaz, Jai Rodriguez and Amanda Bearse.

‘Hey, what’s up?’

It’s a classic Grindr introduction.  And all that’s required to hook-up.

But it’s not a relationship.

Bobby (Billy Eichner) doesn’t want a relationship.  He’s independent, has his own Podcast and is an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.

Bobby’s been around, he knows what gays are like: ‘I support them, I don’t trust them.’

Then he meets the super-hot, ‘grown up boy scout’, Aaron (Luke Macfarlane).

He doesn’t want a relationship either.

‘I hear your boring.’

‘Cool.’

They’re getting to know each other.

Directed by Nicholas Stoller (think, Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) and Get Him to the Greek (2010)), Bros has the usual romcom formula, including the classic romcom run.

In the Q&A post screening at the Melbourne Premiere, yep, I was there.  It was fun.  Nicolas explains the decision behind the making of the film, ‘That it be honest, have a happy ending, and be really funny.’

And Bros has all those things.

Worth noting here that the entire cast in Bros is LGBTQ+ – an achievement Eichner noted in the discussion and highlighted how it was difficult for actors to land a role with their sexual orientation stating most gay roles were played by straight actors.

So there’s a genuine focus on the LGBTQ+ community in the film.

The film’s one of the deeper explorations into a gay relationship that I’ve seen, not being gay but being in a gay relationship – or, pretending not to want the relationship, the insecurities.  Like it’s just the beginning to know who they’re supposed to be in a relationship.

It gets emotional, exploring topics I hadn’t really thought about before like injecting testosterone to look good and why are you complaining because you like me looking this way?

And there’s a fair bit of gay sex.  Not so graphic to be porn, but enough to see the enthusiasm.  And the feeling of lying on the warmth of another human’s chest.

I admit I didn’t get all the jokes or jargon.  But there were plenty of moments that provoked a good belly laugh, appealing to my dry sense of humour – like Aaron and Bobby having a serious conversation while a guy tries to park his rent-a-bike in the rack, right in between the couple.

The look on the face.  It just tickles.

Billy Eichner is great as Bobby: he’s dramatic and funny in his anger and love and emotion.  Aaron describes Bobby as getting angry at things is your brand.  Which is apt.  And it has to be said, Luke Macfarlane as Aaron is hot.  I’m sure he appeals to many all over the Kinsey scale.

There’s just a bit too much emotional drama for me, not because it was about a gay couple, it was actually refreshing to explore the different tone and issues to unpack surrounding a same sex couple; I just enjoyed the comedy more than the serious moments.

 

A Taste of Hunger (Smagen Af Sult)

Rated: MA Taste of Hunger (Smagen Af Sult)

Directed by: Christoffer Boe

Written by: Tobias Lindhold & Christoffer Boe

Produced by: Louise Vesth & Sisse Graum Jørgensen

Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Katrine Greis-Rosenthal.

Danish with English Subtitles.

‘If you ask me what I want

I’ll tell you.

I want everything.’

A Taste of Hunger is about the journey of a chef wanting to fulfill his dream of being awarded a Michelin Star.

Going back ten years, it was when Carsten (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) met Maggie (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal); when she tasted his fancy food at a party no-one else wanted.  When she told him that he deserved his own restaurant. That’s when he knew what his life was.  A dream.  A Michelin Star. Together. That’s what they hunger for.

It’s a film more about the relationship between Carsten and Maggie, and their family of two children, Chloe (Flora Augusta) and August (August Christian Vinkel), and the sacrifices they make to have everything.  But can they have everything?  Eventually, something has to break.

The journey of food and the subtleties of relationship are intertwined, told in chapters, named after the tastes: sweet, sour, fat, salt and heat.

The food adds the sensory to an emotive mystery as Carsten makes food worth fighting for but becomes so focused that nothing else matters beyond what’s on the plate.

Then Maggie finds a letter, typed, anonymous, addressed to Carsten: ‘Your wife is in love with someone else.’  She hides the letter, knowing it will destroy all they’ve worked for.

The knowing looks and play of dialogue lead an emotional investment as Carston describes creating a dish requiring the same elements as attributes needed in a relationship: attention, dedication and passion.

Knowing actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jamie Lannister in, Game of Thrones (winning him a Primetime Emmy Award in 2018), it was refreshing to see him in this role as a native Dane.
He wears the suit of an obsessive chef well, and he’s a man you believe to be in love.

The relationship between Maggie and Carston is the centrepiece of the film offset with the warm aesthetic of the restaurant with the light shining up through moss onto the branches of a small tree – an echo of Maggie looking up into the autumn leaves of a tree in awesome relief when they find out they’ve successfully purchased a place for their restaurant; their dreams coming true.

Along with the relationship’s dynamics, the looks; the children, brother and sister, are given space and relevance in the story as well, adding weight to the pressure of having everything, and the price to be paid.

There’s attention to detail in the portrayal of the story, like the echo of the tree, like the title of each chapter overlaying the view of each setting and giving each stage of the relationship a taste: sweet when they first meet, sour when the story of their relationship begins to turn.

The detail in the telling adds that emotional tone, drawing me in so the journey of their relationship was felt, the need for that dream of being awarded the Michelin Star understood.  It means everything.  But not without everything else.

 

The Forgiven

Rated: MA15+The Forgiven

Directed and Written by: John Michael McDonagh

Based on the Book Written by: Lawrence Osborne

Produced by: John Michael McDonagh, Elizabeth Eves, Trevor Matthews, Nick Gordon

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Matt Smith, Chris Abbott, Caleb Laundry Jones.

‘Interesting in a good way?  Or interesting in a bad way?’

A speed boat takes husband and wife, David (Ralph Fiennes) and Jo Henninger (Jessica Chastain) towards the coastline of Tangier, Morocco.

It’s an unhappy interaction, Jo tapping her chin as they toss comments back and forth; well-oiled insults disguised as a battle of wits.

They’re on their way to Richard’s (Matt Smith) Moroccan indulgence – a walled castle in the middle of the Saharan desert for a weekend of partying, joined by old-school pals and others known from the, Club.

David’s been drinking all day.  He embraces the comment from Jo that he’s a highly-functioning alcoholic, commenting, the, ‘high functioning should negate the alcoholic.’

David, an English surgeon, is an abrasive, stubborn man, tolerated by his beautiful wife, a published writer of children’s books.

Drunk and lost in the dark desert, their insolent tolerance of each other is interrupted when a young boy (Omar Ghazaoui) is suddenly in the headlights of their car before he goes down.

Guests already at the party wonder what has happened to the Henningers?  As they drink and dance and revel in the beginnings of their hedonist weekend.

It’s the building tension of, The Forgiven that kept me at the edge of my seat, the film starting with red font credits, hinting of what’s to come.

There’s tension between husband and wife, David and Jo, driving in darkness, lost.  A tension in the conflict of cultures as the Moroccan staff cater to the taboo gay couple, Richard and his ‘side-piece’ Dally Margolis (Caleb Landry Jones).  Morning tea is served in rooms of naked men.  Richard is a character that understands the nature of things.  He is shameless, none-the-less.

Eventually the hosts are told of the dilemma.  A local boy is dead.  They will call the Moroccan police.  It will be OK.  No-one wants a fuss.  It was an accident.

Richard explains, you just need to be overwhelmingly contrite.

‘If it’s absolutely necessary,’ replies David.

And then the boy’s father (Ismael Kanater) arrives at the gate.

Instead of the expected black mail, the father wants David to return home with him to bury his son.

Reluctantly, David goes.

More surprising, he goes without too much fuss, no-one really knowing if he’ll come back.

And with him gone, the weekend can continue.

Based on the novel written by Lawrence Osborne, the complicated idea of this abrasive Englishman willing to leave with the nomadic father of the boy he has just killed is the beginning of the unpacking of his complicated nature.

Each character is revealed as the weekend continues with witty dialogue and silence amongst the dust and heat in contrast to the fireworks and drinking and lounging about a mirage in the desert become real.

The bourgeoise nature of the characters are honest in their debauchery, a contrast to the local Moroccans as they live with nothing but their children and fossils they dig up to sell to tourists.

And now, a father taking David back to his home to bury his only child.

The narrative is gripping in its revelation, the scenery beautiful and stark, a rose in a box of soaps can almost be smelt, the heat of the desert vibrates as David is driven to his unknown fate.

The backstory of each character has been translated into the film using the clear-eyed dialogue of its characters:

‘A woman without discretion is like a pig with a gold ring through its nose.’

‘You should open a Twitter account,’ the Moroccan staff laugh.

Like McDonagh’s previous films, greatly enjoyed and included in my, ‘If you haven’t watched, you’re in for a treat’, list: ‘The Guard (2011)’ and ‘Calvary (2014)’, The Forgiven is a quality film that will stay with you.

 

Official Competition

Rated: MOfficial Competition

Directed by: Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn

Written by: Andrés Duprat, Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn

Starring: Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas & Oscar Martínez.

Viewed in Spanish with English subtitles.

‘What a wanker.’

It’s Humberto’s (José Luis Gómez) 80th birthday.  His life summed up in the presents laid out before him: a massage chair, a Virgin Mary under a glass dome, a rifle set in its casing.  A painting of a sad clown.

He’s a millionaire who feels like he has money but no prestige.

He wants to be remembered, differently.

He decides he wants to build a bridge.  Or a movie.  Yes, fund a movie.  A good one.  Only the best.

Enter award winning director, Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz).

Humberto buys the rights of a Nobel Prize winning novel to base this, only-the-best movie on, and having failed to read it, he asks Lola what it’s about.

She explains its about a rivalry between two brothers.  She has the two actors in mind to build on that rivalry for the film:

Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez): a teacher, an academic, an actor of integrity and respect.

And, Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas): popular, multi-award winning and arriving at rehearsal in a Lamborghini pashing his latest.

Let the butting of egos begin.

Official Competition is a movie about making a movie, most of the set in an expansive, minimalist house as Lola pulls the actors into the minds of their characters.

Kinda sounds boring, but it’s brilliant watching the techniques used to get the ego’s of these two actors into a place so Lola gets the tone she needs for each scene.

‘I want the truth,’ she demands.

Have to say, Penélope Cruz as Lola looks amazing as the sensitive, brilliant and dedicated director, Lola.  She is the wild, red curly-haired, sensitive and very aware puppeteer.

The film is about how very different these two actors she’s chosen to play the parts as brothers, are; to then realise, they’re as vain as each other.

Iván at one point is seen to be accepting a pretend Academy Award in the mirror, after denying he’d ever lower himself to the popularist farce, and of course not speaking anything but Spanish, to announce in his pretend speech that he was only attending the ceremony to formally reject the award.

Meanwhile, Lola looks incredulously at an online video of Félix making a plea to save the pink dolphin.

I just kept bursting out laughing.

It’s hilarious, all set to Lola’s tricks, using big screens in the background of monologues, rocks suspended over their heads during rehearsal, the sound of kissing while surrounded by microphones, a meat grinder used to signify transition but also showing the edge of Lola’s destruction.

Even Iván’s wife, Violeta (Pilar Castro) an academic hipster who’s written a children’s book is shown as vain as Iván shares a new piece of discordant music where she comments on the brilliance of the tribal drumming.  But no, that’s just next door banging on the wall, again.

This is one of those quietly clever films that seems like it’s not about much but then gives you a tickle when the cleverness of a layer reveals itself.

The whole film’s about ego so in the end the film finishes with a forced clever ending with an ego all of its own.

Great acting, unique and clever story and a good laugh.

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