Review: Untouchable (2011)

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2011, Anne Le Ny, Eric Toledano, François Cluzet, Olivier Nakache, Omar Sy, Untouchable

Directors: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano
Stars: François Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny
Plot: A rich quadriplegic decides to hire a caretaker, but ignores the candidates with experience and training to employ a young man from the projects.

Films about disability have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. Inside I’m Dancing, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Sea Inside have shown that there are stories to be told that can be utterly convincing without resorting to schmaltz or sentimentality on an epic scale. Not only this, but French cinema in general is now enjoying increasing success abroad following the release of award-laden The Artist and it is The Weinstein Company who brings us Untouchable, a charming fish-out-of-water story with a twist.

One night in Paris, Driss (Sy) is driving Philippe (Cluzet) around the city in the latter’s Maserati Quattroporte at high-speed, when they are pulled over by the police. Driss makes a bet with his passenger that he can get an escort – Philippe pretends to have a stroke and they are guided to the local hospital, at which point Driss waits for the police to leave and promptly drives away. We then flashback to their first meeting; Philippe is sitting in a wheelchair, while he and his assistant Magalie (Audrey Fleurot) conduct interviews for the position of caretaker at his mansion. After a number of frankly dull interviewees who fail to capture the imagination, Driss walks in with the intention of merely obtaining a signature to prove that he applied for the job so he can get his state benefits, but he is initially rejected and told to come back the next day.

Driss returns to his small Parisian apartment he shares with his family, but his aunt tells him to leave, having not heard from him in six months. He goes back to the mansion for the signature and finds to his surprise that Philippe has employed him on a trial basis as a live-in carer. Driss is shocked to learn about the extent of Philippe’s disability and the amount of care that he has to give his employer. A friend of Philippe warns him that Driss has a criminal record, but he dismisses these concerns as his new charge doesn’t show him any pity – and that’s exactly what Philippe needs. As the pair become closer over time, Philippe reveals that his wife died of a terminal illness and he became quadriplegic following a paragliding accident. Driss also discovers that Philippe has been corresponding with a mystery woman from Dunkirk and goes about trying to get him to meet her in person and hopefully get some semblance of normality back into his life.

Untouchable has a formula that is nothing new. Two completely separate worlds collide as rich and poor come together in a friendship which changes the outlook of both protagonists. There’s a sense that Trading Places forms the basis for the plot, with Omar Sy’s Driss playing the Eddie Murphy character as he enters completely unfamiliar surroundings, while François Cluzet represents the token stark contrast as a Dan Aykroyd equivalent – the two join forces in a similar manner to defy the establishment. There’s also an exaggeration in the obligatory ‘based on a true story’ foreword shown at the beginning of the film; the real-life Omar (actually named Abdel Sellou) is Algerian as opposed to the portrayed Senegalese – this is evidently an attempt to highlight the differences in not only class and culture, but also race, in the name of manipulation. That aside, great credit is due to writer/director duo of Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, who have a script which is buzzing with very witty one-liners and has genuine moments of hilarity that tread the fine line with poignancy and tragedy.

Perhaps the most marked aspect of the film is that it is so accessible. The opening few scenes crackle along at a furious pace (with a neat but short car chase to start with) – if you think that watching a foreign film with subtitles is a drag, then welcome to the film that will surely change your mind. The level of humour is mostly focused on Driss’ wisecracks, mixed with a touch of slapstick, but this enhances proceedings rather than detracting from the superb screenplay. Omar Sy’s charisma shines through his character Driss, making him instantly likeable. For the film to work, it is essential for Driss to be played by an actor with a strong screen presence and Sy fulfils this requirement and then some. His witty one-liners are not just confined to the French sense of humour – they will be appreciated by even the most cynical os drôle. François Cluzet, France’s answer to Dustin Hoffman (surely look out for a ready-made trans-Atlantic twin drama/comedy in the making) once again excels, here as Philippe. His efforts ensure that there is no mawkishness or sentimentality surrounding his paraplegic character, even though his character’s disability is plain to see, Cluzet injects enough humour into his physical performance to help us to enjoy the relationship between him and Driss.

Reports suggest that there’s a Hollywood remake of Untouchable in the works – and it’s clear to see why. However, it’s difficult to comprehend how the makers of the new version will be able to replicate the fantastic chemistry that Cluzet and Sy have throughout this terrific original. Clichéd and predictable it may be, but at the heart of everything is a touching yet most importantly hilariously comic look at how friendships can happen in the most unlikely of places and under the oddest circumstances.

Rating:

Review: 360 (2011)

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2011, 360, Anthony Hopkins, Fernando Meirelles, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz

Director: Fernando Meirelles
Stars: Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins
Plot: A series of interconnecting stories about relationships and life choices are weaved together from Europe to America.

In 2002, Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles’ major film release outside his native country, City of God, deservedly received a raft of plaudits. Seldom had we previously seen this side of Brazil – here, away from the gloriously golden, sunny beaches of Rio de Janeiro, we saw a very different side of life dominated by poverty and desperation. This searingly vivid portrayal was followed by The Constant Gardener, a wonderfully harrowing and poignant drama. Meirelles has since been unable to set the world alight in quite the same way, so does 360 restore his reputation as a leading filmmaker?

In Vienna, Mirka (Lucia Siposova) is having nude shots taken of her by Rocco (Johannes Krisch), who then persuades her to change her name, which she chooses as Blanca. Mirka and her sister Anna (Gabriela Marcinkova) head back to Bratislava, when Rocco asks her to come back to Vienna to meet a client for sex. Michael Daly (Law), a married London businessman, is in Vienna and is due to meet Blanca, but is thwarted by a business associate who takes an interest in her at the bar. In Paris, an Algerian man (Jamel Debbouze) follows a woman wearing a red beret, about whom he confesses to his therapist that he has become obsessed. In London, Rose (Weisz) walks along a street unaware that an upset woman is taking photos of her, as she meets up with Rui (Juliano Cazarré), with whom she is having an affair. We later learn that Rose is married to Michael, who keeps his escapades in Vienna a secret.

In Colorado, sex offender Tyler (Ben Foster) has just been released after serving six years in prison and is reassured by his parole officer Fran (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) that he will be able to cope with life on the outside, despite his reservations. Meanwhile Laura (Maria Flor), the former Brazilian girlfriend of Rui who split up from him after learning about his infidelity, is heading back home via Denver and meets John (Hopkins), who is on his way to Phoenix, Arizona to determine if a body of a British girl found is his daughter Julia. They both become stranded in Denver due to a blizzard. Tyler finds himself in the airport and encounters Laura, who invites him back to her hotel room to which he accepts, even though he secretly feels extremely anxious. In Paris, Sergei, who is married to the woman in the beret, picks up his boss to be taken for a meeting with a client, who turns out to be Blanca. These intertwining relationships come full circle with home truths and some unexpected results.

360 suffers from the same fundamental deficiency as similar themed films such as Magnolia and Hereafter – that is, an inability to link all of the subplots together in a clever way and then deliver a knock-out punch for the finale. Granted, screenwriter Peter Morgan sets himself the unenviable task of connecting these seemingly unrelated characters into one complex web, which should be so tightly wound that at the end, the big reveal produces the obligatory box-office gasp. However, by creating a smokescreen of mostly trendy Europeans hanging out in cafes and having affairs with one another as if trapped in some kind of 1970s time-warp, upon examination there is no central theme holding everything together. To a lesser extent, the same can be said of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, with its multiple storylines that are spread so thinly, that we don’t have time as the audience to really engage and empathise with the protagonists for long enough to care. Magnolia is a classic example of how critics can get carried away with an all-star cast with Tom Cruise yelling quotable profanities that stick in the memory, but yet provide false memories that the script was any good. Placing both Paul Thomas Anderson’s mosaic and this, Fernando Meirelles’ attempt to dazzle us with star names and even starrier locations, doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

As far as the acting is concerned, ironically, no-one is stretched at all – this partly due to the unashamed stereotyping which is shoved in our faces from the very first minute. According to 360, if you’re a white European then you’ll be rich and successful. Eastern Europeans are apparently prostitutes, sleazy pimps or gangsters (probably having stumbled in from Taken), while the lone American is a twitchy sex offender. There’s nothing wrong with being un-PC every now and then, but it’s the exaggeration of these character traits which grates the most. Jude Law seems content to inhibit yet another android-like personality with his unique lack of emotion, while Rachel Weisz looks beautiful but doesn’t have much of a chance to develop her character beyond one affair. Anthony Hopkins is probably the biggest standout and by comparison has a meaty part, but even his role is boiled down to one monologue in an AA meeting, where his character’s conclusion about life (which, incidentally is “f*ck it” – profound, eh?) is one you would probably see on your Facebook news feed, courtesy of some serial spammer who has too much time on their hands. The rest of the supporting cast is made up of actors and actresses who you’ve probably never heard of and most likely never will again – they are merely there to make up the numbers and flesh out a plot that creaks and groans with every turn.

Fernando Meirelles may have had a blazing international debut, but 360 illustrates how he has seemingly lost his way and is no longer the daring director he once was. Peter Morgan should take most of the blame though, especially considering his reputation (he counts The Queen, Frost/Nixon and Skyfall among his credits). Jet-setting between Vienna, Paris, London and, er, Denver might seem attractive, but the end result is anything but.

Rating:

Review: Margaret (2011)

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2011, Anna Paquin, Kenneth Lonergan, Margaret, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Damon

Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Stars: Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo
Plot: A teenager feels guilty for indirectly causing a fatal accident but as she tries to cope with the event, the fall-out affects everyone around her.

Mention the name Anna Paquin and you’ll probably get two responses: The Piano and True Blood. Her two most famous roles, as Flora McGrath and Sookie Stackhouse respectively, were separated by a good 15 years. In the intervening time, Paquin featured in a vast array of films, but only in mostly bit-parts although it was X-Men in 2000 which offered her a chance to co-star alongside Hollywood’s A-List. In Margaret, which languished in post-production hell for more than four years before finally being released, Paquin plays a teenager haunted by a road traffic incident for which she witnesses at first-hand and feels ultimately responsible.

Lisa Cohen (Paquin), a 17-year-old student from Manhattan, goes out shopping and while on the Upper West Side, notices a bus driver, Gerald Maretti (Ruffalo) with a cowboy hat. She tries to flag him down to find out where he bought it, but in the meantime he is distracted, runs a red light and runs over Monica Patterson (Allison Janney), who dies in Lisa’s arms. Both Lisa and Gerald give false statements to the police, claiming that it wasn’t the driver’s fault – the case is subsequently closed. Lisa starts to feel guilty and seeks out Monica’s family but when her cousin shows little interest, she contacts her friend Emily (Jeannie Berlin), in order to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transit Authority, even if any money won would go to Monica’s next of kin.

Meanwhile, Lisa flirts with her maths teacher Aaron Caije (Damon), decides to lose her virginity to classmate Paul (Kieran Culkin) and has vehement discussions in class about race and religion. Her relationship with her actress mother Joan (J. Smith-Cameron), which is rocky at the best of times, deteriorates further when Lisa shows little interest in her mother’s new boyfriend Ramon (Jean Reno). Lisa confronts Maretti about the incident, but after initially denying that he remembers so that his wife doesn’t find out, he later says that he does and argues with Lisa about how she intends to destroy his livelihood – this encounter strengthens her resolve to fight the case. As Lisa’s personal life gets more complicated when she gets pregnant, she finds it increasingly difficult to cope with the psychological consequences of what happened.

Director Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret is a sprawling three hours of drama and emotion, with a powerful central performance by Anna Paquin. The humongous running time of the director’s cut might put many people off, but the way in which the film’s themes are explored in a very tight script, ensures that there is little time for any meaningless meandering and subsequent watch-checking. The most powerful scene of all, the accident around which the plot is focused, comes after what is a pretty standard opening, featuring the hum-drum life of a New York teenager. It would be very easy for Lisa’s character from this point on to undergo a massive transformation for the sake of dramatisation, but instead we get a surprisingly subtle (in the main) unravelling of her psyche and relationships with those around her. One of the oddities of Margaret is its title, which is derived from a name in a poem that crops up in one of Lisa’s classes – this exemplifies how everything is buried deep within the screenplay. Lonergan leaves you to make your own judgements about Lisa’s behaviour, but this means that we are connected to her complex personality much more closely and can enjoy this terrific character study.

Paquin is utterly convincing as protagonist Lisa, even if there is quite a lot of Sookie Stackhouse in her performance as well. Managing to convey her initial trauma, post-traumatic stress and the general hormonal confusion associated with teenage years all in one go is no easy task, but Paquin is effortless in this regard. Playing a character almost 10 years her junior might seem rather strange (Maggie Grace can attest to that in the Taken films), but she fits into her role easily with her hair dyed black and a concerted effort to portray her character’s teenage angst with hints of maturity. The supporting cast is also superb. J. Smith-Cameron almost steals the show away from Paquin as Lisa’s mother Joan, whose character suffers almost as much in her own relationships in a ripple effect subplot which includes her own love-life. Mark Ruffalo, who has very limited screen time given his character’s pivotal part to play in the entire film, is suitably unpleasant as the indifferent Maretti. There are also nice turns from Matt Damon as Lisa’s nice-then-creepy schoolteacher and Jean Reno, who pops up as a Frenchman with a Spaniard’s name (although this misnomer is explained away rather sketchily).

Margaret is not without its faults, but with a compelling storyline and some very relatable situations, this feels a world away from the wistful New York of Woody Allen. Lonergan has crafted a very thought-provoking journey through a slice of adolescence that even a million John Hughes films couldn’t get closing to touching upon.

Rating:

Review: Headhunters (2011)

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2011, Aksel Hennie, Headhunters, Morten Tyldum, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Synnøve Macody Lund

Director: Morten Tyldum
Stars: Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Plot: A corporate head hunter steals valuable works of art to keep his glamorous wife happy, but his next intended acquisition proves to be far more difficult to obtain than he bargained for.

Over the past decade, Scandinavia has become a goldmine for cinematic gems. Let the Right One In, Girl with The Dragon Tattoo and to a lesser extent Troll Hunter have all been critically and commercially successful globally, with Hollywood clamouring to remake them. Headhunters is no exception – here is a Norwegian film that does not rely on vampires or barren tundra for its kicks, but instead a clever plot that mixes mystery and intrigue with high-class drama that makes it very accessible indeed.

Roger Brown (Hennie) is a successful head hunter who lives in Oslo with his tall, beautiful art gallery owner wife Diana (Lund). He has a complex about being vertically challenged and believes that there is a queue of taller men waiting to take Diana from him. His ‘hobby’ which is designed to enable him to give numerous gifts to Diana, is stealing art from his clients, using the information he is able to glean from their private lives, with the help of his friend Ove (Eivind Sander), who works at a surveillance company and is able to de-activate the house alarms. At an exhibition at Diana’s gallery, Roger meets Clas Greve (Coster-Waldau), who wants to be the CEO of a surveillance company called Pathfinder, a job for which Roger is recruiting. Diana tells Roger that Clas has inherited a rare Rubens painting from his recently deceased grandmother, which could be worth anything up to 100 million kroner.

Roger contacts Ove to arrange the plan for stealing it, while he learns from Clas during a game of squash that he joined the Danish army when he was 18 and worked on tracking escaped criminals. Roger breaks into Clas’ apartment and recovers the Ruben, putting a forgery in its place. He decides to call Diana on her phone, but hears it ringing in the bedroom and realises she has been having an affair. He doesn’t mention the incident to Diana so as to keep his whereabouts secret, but is dismayed that he now wanted children having dismissed Diana’s pleadings. Roger gets up for work the next morning, but when he opens the car door, makes a shocking discovery. From this moment on, Roger finds himself locked in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse from which he will have to go to extreme lengths in order to escape.

On the face of it, Headhunters may not immediately, well, turn heads. Leading man Aksel Hennie is reminiscent of Christopher Walken circa The Deer Hunter, with a little Steve Buscemi mixed in and there is a great deal of the usual Norwegian grit early on as we learn about our protagonist’s motives. If you’ve seen the original Dragon Tattoo or indeed either of its sequels, you will notice clear similarities in the locations as the action moves from the city out into the countryside. No doubt when the inevitable sequel is released, the character of Roger Brown (which sounds more like an accountant from Droitwich than a native of Norway, you might agree) will have chiselled good looks more akin to Pierce Brosnan’s Thomas Crown, for the sake of the box-office. But there’s much more to the film, adapted from Jo Nesbø’s novel of the same name (Hodejegerne), than just bleakness and misery – far from it. Morten Tyldum’s film is exciting and gloriously unpredictable throughout, with many twists and turns in the plot that will keep you guessing right up until the end. Even when you think you’ve managed to work everything out, there always seems to be one final loose end that needs tying up.

Not having any expectations of the cast makes the film much more enjoyable. Virtual unknowns outside Norway (apart from Danish actor Coster-Waldau, who currently stars in the TV series Game of Thrones) the very small number of main characters gives us plenty of time to concentrate on putting all the pieces together and the acting itself is exemplary. Hennie is equally smarmy yet believable as a corporate weasel and thief, in over his head. His ability to turn Roger from an unlikeable creep into an anti-hero who you wish to come out of the mess he has created, is superb. Coster-Waldau, as the villain of the piece is also terrific, making for a worthy adversary for Hennie’s Roger. The simply gorgeous Lund, who had no previous acting experience, does more than just look pretty; she herself is very believable as Roger’s put-upon wife, Diana. Sander and Julie Ølgaard (who plays Roger’s mistress Lotte), give great support as important elements in the plot which provide the main twists. Tyldum’s direction is fantastic and never relies on shaky camera angles to rack up the tension – rather he lets the action speak for itself, which it does brilliantly.

Headhunters would be a fabulous introduction to foreign cinema for anyone looking for something different and original. Whatever is in store for the slated 2014 remake, be rest assured it’ll have to be one hell of a film to match the thrills on display here.

Rating:

Review: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)

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2011, Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close, Sandra Bullock, Stephen Daldry, Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks

Director: Stephen Daldry
Stars: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock
Plot: A nine-year-old searches New York for a mysterious key that his father left behind when he died during the 9/11.

Over a decade after the September 11th terrorist attacks, there remains a definite air of sensitivity about making films based on the events of that fateful day. The most famous of the releases in the guise of World Trade Center, Flight 93 and Fahrenheit 9/11 mostly looked at the human stories which emerged, but of course Michael Moore isn’t one for sentiment and went for the hard, cold criticism of the American government in its aftermath. Extremely Loud takes an opposite approach – that of weaving a fictional story about a family torn apart by the atrocity and a boy’s search for answers amid the fallout.

Thomas Schell (Hanks) plays a scavenger game with his son Oskar (Horn) to find an elusive sixth borough of New York. The game requires communication with people and isn’t easy – this is Thomas’ way of teaching Oskar how to look after himself and relate to others. Their relationship is very close and nothing can prepare Oskar for the events on what he calls “the worst day”. On the morning of September 11th 2001, Oskar is let out of school early without realising exactly why. When he returns home, he finds that his father and mother Linda (Bullock) are both at work. Upon turning on the television, he sees live coverage of the World Trade Center ablaze and notices five answering machine message from Thomas, saying that he is in one of the twin towers. When the phone rings again, Oskar is too scared to answer and his father leaves another distressed message which ends abruptly as the tower falls. He hides the answering machine in the closet and replaces it with a similar one so that his mother doesn’t find out.

A few weeks later, Oskar grows closer to his paternal grandmother (Zoe Caldwell), but his relationship with his grief-stricken mother worsens when she cannot explain to Oskar why his father died. He tells her that he wished that she was in the World Trade Center instead and she agrees, but then Oskar says that he didn’t mean it. One year later, Oskar finds a blue vase containing a key in an envelope with the word ‘Black’ on it. He resolves to find the lock which the key fits and sets about looking in the telephone directory for anyone with the surname ‘Black’ to see if they knew his father, even though there are 472 of them. Firstly, he meets Abby Black (Viola Davis), who is in the process of moving home following her divorce – after an initially hopeful conversation, Abby tells Oskar that she didn’t know Thomas. Oskar continues his search and finds that a mysterious man (Max Von Sydow) has moved in with his grandmother, but as they slowly befriend eachother, Oskar realises that he can’t speak due to an incident during World War II and only communicates by writing on a pad. The two set out to find the lock for the key or at least the owner, so that the mystery can finally be solved.

Adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s 2005 novel of the same name, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close has a very touching premise and should have absolutely no problem in grabbing our attention and really feeling for the character of Oskar as he goes on a journey of self-discovery. Unfortunately, at the very centre of the film is a massive fault line that permeates every single scene – Oskar himself. His personality is the most repulsive, bratty, irritating little wretch you could ever wish to meet. You know, the kind of sugar-high child you meet at the supermarket that forces you to move a few aisles away to save your ears from unnecessary damage. Given that he has lost his father in such a horrific way would surely compel you to feel a great deal of empathy for him, but it isn’t long before patience is tested to breaking point and at times the TV ‘off’ button feels like a tempting proposition. There are some touching moments here and there, but Thomas Horn’s portrayal matches the tone of the book and makes the film adaptation a very difficult watch, especially considering the long running time. It is hard to comprehend why Safran Foer and indeed screenwriter Eric Roth didn’t realise that having such an unlikeable central character would be a problem, given the emotive theme.

The acting you could say, is actually pretty good. Horn’s Oskar matches that of the book and he has therefore done what is required. Considering that this is his first ever acting job (he was plucked from obscurity after winning the kids’ version of Jeopardy), it remains to be seen how Horn will fair in future roles – his next films Space Warriors and Joe’s Mountain are due for release next year. Tom Hanks, who features quite briefly, is good as the charismatic father in the flashback scenes and Sandra Bullock plays Linda with restraint although the screenplay doesn’t appear to reveal why she is quite content for her young son to wander the streets of New York with a virtual stranger – this is partly explained at the end, but perhaps adoption may be the answer for all concerned. Max Von Sydow was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar (among others), for what is a performance of no real note. Maybe the Academy should have looked a little closer at some of his other roles that were far more deserving. Stephen Daldry’s direction is adequate, as long as you’re prepared for a rather indulgent shot of Tom Hanks flying down towards the screen.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close could well have been a triumph had Oskar not been, well, a git. There are some flashes (literally) of brilliance, but nothing to suggest that a recommendation is called for. This is not a film that you should rush to see, but if you do – don’t say you haven’t been warned.

Rating:

Review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)

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2011, Bill Nighy, John Madden, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Director: John Madden
Stars: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith
Plot: A group of unconnected British pensioners end up on holiday together in India, but find their accommodation to be anything but luxurious.

If you go and see a British film at the cinema these days, you’ll be pretty much guaranteed to see either Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson or Bill Nighy featured in some guise or another. While Wilkinson has been cropping up in many a Hollywood blockbuster, Dench continues to add gravitas to the James Bond franchise as ‘M’ in the up-coming release of Skyfall. So, when an opportunity to see these cinematic heavyweights appear together in the same film, does it add up to a knockout result?

Seven retirees who are supposed to be enjoying their twilight years, are each compelled to visit India for their own respective journey of self-discovery. Recently widowed housewife Evelyn (Dench) has to sell her house to cover debts left by her late husband. Graham (Wilkinson) lived in India as a boy and decides to revisit the country. Jean (Penelope Wilton) and Doug (Nighy) are struggling for money after investing  in their daughter’s failed company. Muriel (Smith) needs a hip replacement and is told that she can have this done in India to little expense. Wealthy Madge (Celia Imrie) is looking for another husband and aging lothario Norman (Ronald Pickup) is desperately seeking out one-night stands in an attempt to recapture his youth. Each character’s storyline intertwine together as they fly to India and then onto Jaipur via a particularly long, bumpy ride on a bus. Upon arrival at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, they are met by enthusiastic host Sonny (Dev Patel), who tries to make them all comfortable despite the fact that the once magnificent hotel is now dilapidated.

Jean decides to stay in the hotel for most of the time while her husband Doug explores the city’s sights as suggested by Graham who finds that Jaipur has changed a great deal since he was last there. As Muriel’s distaste for foreigners is clear to see, she is humbled by the efforts of her doctor and the hotel cleaner who is a member of the “Untouchable” caste, for her kindness. Evelyn discovers that she cannot afford the low rates of the hotel, so she decides to garner some income by working at the local call centre to show them how to engage their British customers without alienating them with dizzying jargon. Meanwhile, Sonny fails to convince an investor to contribute to the restoration of the hotel and continues to visit a girl of whom his mother strongly disapproves. Madge joins an exclusive club, but fails to persuade the manager she is Princess Margaret, she finds Norman at the bar, having passed himself off as HRH Duke of Kent. As each member of the group becomes slowly accustomed to their surroundings, a few secrets and home truths are unearthed which will have far-reaching consequences for all those concerned.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel cannot claim to have the best script to match its title. Ironically it feels rushed and cobbled together, much like the hotel hospitality itself, in an effort to put Dench, Smith, Wilkinson and Co. in the same film purely for the benefit of the box office. When plotting simultaneous storylines, the onus is on each and every one of those to be equally significant in order for the finale to prove satisfying. As it happens, only the subplot concerning Tom Wilkinson’s character Graham has enough mileage – in fact there is more than enough of a story there to make a film just about his moving journey of resolving his unfinished business. He is really at the heart of everything, while all of the other protagonists revolve around him, as scene by scene we have to jump from one to the next without anywhere near adequate pause for thought. This is a shame because there are some potentially great moments that could have been capitalised upon, but the emotion invested is regularly broken by an apparently desperate need to spread everything very thinly. This works in theory during the scenes of banter, but over the course of the film, doesn’t really prove to be a successful method for a decent ending.

The acting, as you would expect, is generally exemplary. Whenever Judi Dench is on-screen she shines as Evelyn, who needs to be played with dignity but also wit – few others could have done a better job. Tom Wilkinson seems to be at home playing Graham – his performance is very touching and deserves most of the accolades. If there was ever a more obvious chance for a spin-off, then here it is – with only Wilkinson as the lead, of course. Maggie Smith delivers her lines with a similar acerbic wit to her alter ego The Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey - her character is supposed to be unlikeable, but Smith gives the role a sarcastic twist in her own indomitable style. As for the rest of the British stalwarts, Nighy and Imrie are perhaps the best-known, but there are also notable contributions from Penelope Wilton and Ronald Pickup, who both take a back seat to their illustrious co-stars. Dev Patel is arguably the big let-down. The blatant choice to play the Indian host, his character Sonny Kapoor is too stereotypical to be taken seriously and belongs in a cartoon rather than a live-action film. His performance merely comes across as trying too hard to provide the comic relief, when a more subtle approach would have been far easier to swallow.

Don’t be fooled by Exotic Marigold’s cast – there are some neat moments and India looks sumptuous, but the end result is less than satisfying. Still, with a streamlining of the cast and a more believable hotel manager, our stay would have been less Fawlty Towers and more Hilton.

Rating:

Review: The Woman in the Fifth (2011)

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2011, Ethan Hawke, Joanna Kulig, Kristin Scott Thomas, Pawel Pawlikowski, The Woman in the Fifth

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joanna Kulig
Plot: A college lecturer goes to Paris seeking solace from a scandal. There he meets a mysterious woman who may be connected to a series of murders.

Kristin Scott Thomas is apparently the go-to actress if you need to globally commercialise an arty French film. Tell No One, I’ve Loved you So Long and Sarah’s Key have all featured Scott Thomas at or near the top of their bill. Whereas these films had her speaking in the French tongue, surprisingly her character in The Woman in the Fifth has a posh English accent, although on this occasion she is half-Hungarian, half-French.

Tom Ricks (Hawke), an American literature professor, arrives in Paris from Minnesota, intending to be near his six-year-old daughter Chloé (Julie Papillon). When he arrives at his ex-wife Nathalie’s (Delphine Chuillot) apartment, he finds her to be very hostile and she tells Tom to leave due to a restraining order and calls the police. Having got onto a bus, Tom falls asleep and wakes in the outskirts of Paris, only to discover that his luggage and money has been stolen. He wanders into a cafe which doubles as a hotel – he convinces the owner Sezer (Samir Guesmi) to give him a room as long as he eventually pays the bill. After a day or two, Sezer asks Tom whether he can pay, but when he doesn’t receive assurances, gives Tom a job as a night guard in a gloomy, basement office for 50 Euros a night. Tom is invited to a writers’ gathering, where he meets Margit Kadar – they chat briefly before she asks him to come round to her apartment in the fifth arrondissement at 5pm, twice a week, no questions asked.

Meanwhile, Tom tries to see Chloé whenever he can, by watching from afar or having a brief conversation through the school gates. He starts writing a long letter to her and begins work on a new novel while he is on the night shift. When Tom goes to see Margit at her apartment, they start a relationship and mainly talk about his worthiness as a writer. Tom also begins to have an illicit affair with Sezer’s Polish wife Ania (Kulig) and has his life threatened by Omar (Mamadou Minte) who lives next door to his hotel room, as he saw Tom and Ania sleeping together on the roof. They had previously had an altercation over Omar’s apparent reluctance to flush the toilet that they share. When Omar is found dead, Tom becomes the prime suspect especially as the police find the note given to him by Omar that they believe Tom actually wrote They also disclose a revelation about Margit that throws Tom’s life into utter chaos. Sezer is found to be the culprit and Tom is subsequently released from custody, but then Chloé goes missing and he goes to see Margit to find the truth and hopefully, his daughter.

The Woman in the Fifth is quite an oddity. There’s a very arty feel about the whole film (well, we are in Paris after all) even though the trailer suggests otherwise. Not a great deal happens until the final twenty minutes or so – we merely follow Ethan Hawke’s character Tom as he familiarises himself with the streets of the city, meeting a hotchpotch of characters, each with their own agendas. Even though there is supposed to be an air of mystery throughout the film, there’s only a sense of aimless wandering in a foreign country – it’s more like Lost in Translation but without the comedy. Having said that, it is a relief to be able to see a different side to Paris, one that A Prophet showed – away from the bright lights, upmarket cafés and museums. Although we do catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the background it isn’t a Hollywood-tourist-landmark-checklist that we have grown accustomed to in recent years. The transplantation of the action from the famous centre to a rundown part of town is clearly designed to reflect Tom’s state of mind.

Ethan Hawke speaks mostly in a lazy American-French accent, although about half of the film is in English. His character Tom is hard to like – he watches his daughter from afar almost in a creepy way and appears to be rude to anyone who offers him help or tries to be nice. Hawke doesn’t really convince here, although to be fair the screenplay doesn’t offer him the opportunity to try a little drama. Kristin Scott Thomas has little to do, despite being the subject of the film’s title. She is supposed to be enigmatic, yet this merely involves smoking cigarettes and looking into middle distance as all writers are obliged to, of course. Joanna Kulig, who has the only other significant role is underused but shines in her bit-part role as Tom’s muse. Pawel Pawlikowski’s direction is solid enough, although there are too many pretentious shots of a forest which promise much in the way of a thunderous revelation, but instead appear to be shoved in merely to reflect Tom’s creative thoughts as he writes for his daughter.

The Woman in the Fifth is a muddled patchwork that asks many questions but leaves most of them unanswered. There is meant to be some kind of M. Night Shyamalan-style nuclear bombshell towards the end, but instead you’re left with the feeling that it’s actually just a damp squib of a firework.

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Review: Take Shelter (2011)

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2011, Jeff Nichols, Jessica Chastain, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham, Take Shelter

Director: Jeff Nichols
Stars: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham
Plot: A man has a series of apocalyptic visions, but wonders whether he should shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.

Mental illness in films is generally done without any ambiguity at all. Shine, A Beautiful Mind, American Psycho and The Shining all portrayed its protagonists as being clearly suffering from delusions of some kind or displaying the classic symptoms of what is popularly called ‘insanity’. Where Take Shelter differs, is in keeping its audience guessing as to whether or not the central character is in the early throes of paranoid schizophrenia or is actually having premonitions of a fierce storm that will have dire consequences for anyone living in its path.

Curtis LaForche (Shannon) lives with his wife Samantha (Chastain) and their deaf daughter Hannah (Tova Stewart) in Elyria, Ohio. He starts to have disturbing and vivid dreams about a storm, during which he is harmed either by the family dog or those close to him. The storm itself always takes the shape of a ferocious-looking black cloud that precipitates motor oil. Believing that his family is in danger, Curtis decides to fortify their storm shelter in the backyard, but at the same time, his behaviour starts to alienate his family. He visits a counsellor at a free clinic and reveals that his mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in her 30s, around the same age that Curtis is himself now. He enlists the help of his work colleague Dewart (Whigham), borrows some equipment to dig the space big enough to fit a ship container that he has bought and gets a home improvement loan, all without telling Samantha, who is very unhappy when she eventually finds out.

Curtis visits a doctor who prescribes him a sedative to help him sleep, but when he slightly overdoses and suffer a seizure in front of Samantha, he has to tell her everything that has been going on. As Hannah undergoes treatment which demands that Curtis takes an increasing amount of time off work, his boss Russell (Ross Kennard) comes round to the house and fires him and gives Dewart two weeks’ unpaid leave after also learning that he borrowed the equipment without insurance. Curtis buys gas masks for his family and manages to finish the shelter, which has electricity and running water. He and Samantha have an argument over his unemployment, but she decides to stay but makes him promise to see a proper psychiatrist and for both of them to find new jobs. They go to a community gathering where Curtis has a run-in with former friend Dewart and they fight. Curtis shouts at everyone, warning them that a storm is coming and they are all hopelessly prepared. He and Samantha go home but are awoken in the middle of the night by the tornado siren – they take Hannah into the shelter and wait for the storm to pass, but will Curtis’ nightmares come true?

One word that springs to mind when describing Take Shelter is: intense. The tension is built up very slowly, with only the odd scene (including the dream sequences), only partially breaking the mood of quiet fear and dread with a bang, before quickly starting up again. Movies about apocalyptic thunderstorms usually feature the protagonists literally in the eye of the tempest, battling to stay alive against the odds, as in The Perfect Storm. Here we have both a literal and metaphorical storm brewing set in a sleepy Ohio town where the most excitement comes from the tornadoes that hit the region during certain months of the year. Apart from the odd bit of CGI to portray thunder and lightning, the onus is on the characters to really carry the story through. Curtis’ initial demeanour is as an ordinary man, going to work every day and taking care of his family. Once the dreams start however, his descent into obsession with building the shelter becomes a one-man mission – what strikes you is that he doesn’t ask the wider community for help (the usual weepie stereotype) – instead he goes largely alone, thus raising suspicions that he is actually going insane.

Michael Shannon’s performance is the one big plus point of the entire film. His Curtis is not really that likeable, yet you feel sympathy as he struggles to come to terms with his plight as a modern-day Noah. As he switches from trying to make sense of his dreams and becoming enveloped in protecting his family from a possible cataclysmic event to working out whether he has inherited his mother’s schizophrenia is something that few actors would have been able to accomplish. Jessica Chastain who seems to be in everything these days, once again builds on her reputation as a consummate performer although it would be interesting to see her in a lead role rather as a supporting actress, just to see what she can really do. Director Jeff Nichols, who is a relative newcomer, seems comfortable both with the talkie scenes and those of the nightmares which have elements of the horror genre rather than drama about them. Adam Stone’s cinematography is excellent, conveying the flat Ohio landscape as a hostile battlefield for any tornado to enjoy a spin upon.

Take Shelter holds its cards close to its chest, not allowing us to really know what is going to happen until the final reel. The acting is superb, as is the direction but the plot doesn’t quite move along as it should and the running time is therefore a touch too long, losing some of its impact. If you watch this for no other reason though, make sure it is for Shannon and Chastain’s performances.

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Review: Carnage (2011)

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2011, Carnage, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Roman Polanski

Director: Roman Polanski
Stars: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz
Plot: Two pairs of parents meet to discuss an incident involving their sons, but as the conversation becomes protracted, so the tension escalates.

One of the many challenges of parenting is dealing decisively with your offspring if they have a spat with a fellow pupil. This may involve a quick phone call to a teacher or, for more serious at-school incidents, a face-to-face meeting with the headteacher. But what happens if said incident happens outside school hours? Quite often it comes down to a friendly chat with the parents of the other child, where the intention is to have a civil conversation about the issue and nip any potential future conflict in the bud – but is it always as easy as it sounds?

Two 11-year-old boys, Zachary Cowan (Elvis Polanski) and Ethan Longstreet (Eliot Berger) have a confrontation in a Brooklyn park which results in Zachary hitting Ethan in the face with a stick, breaking one of his teeth. Their parents meet for what is supposed to be a cordial discussion about the circumstances surrounding their son’s set-to, but it turns into a chaotic slanging match which raises questions about who knows better about parenting than the other. Penelope (Foster) and Michael (John C. Reilly) Longstreet play host to Alan (Waltz) and Nancy (Winslet) Cowan so that they can sort out the situation. They begin formulating a letter to the school explaining what happened but when it comes to laying the blame, a whole can of worms is opened. Penelope is keen to point the finger squarely at Zachary, suggesting a brutal and unprovoked attack on her son – Nancy has other ideas and makes some suggestions as to how the letter should be edited to hint that Ethan must have said or done something to spark a reaction.

Initially intended to be a short meeting, Alan and Nancy find themselves holding the door handle (and indeed at one point are halfway into the lift) on a number of occasions, but are invited back in by Penelope and Michael to smooth over the friction that appears between them. The foursome’s careers provoke the first shots across the bows. Nancy, a wealth manager and Alan, a legal advisor currently dealing with a pharmaceutical company which is selling dodgy pills, are at odds with Penelope’s academic interest in Africa and Michael, who as a plumbing salesman has been forced into smartening up by his wife. Alan’s insistence on taking work calls before the conversation can get going, begins to seriously grate with Penelope especially, who takes offence when Alan jumps up to attend to his ill-fated Blackberry that ends up going for a paddle in a vase alongside a bunch of tulips. As the adults’ behaviour becomes increasingly childish, the chances of finding a resolution becomes ever more remote.

Carnage has a vast array of subplots – and that’s even before we get to the screenplay. Roman Polanski’s fugitive status in the US forces him to make alternative arrangements when setting a film such as this, which is meant to be in New York but instead has been mostly created on a sound stage in Paris. The original play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza (who takes a screenwriting credit alongside Polanski), is chock full of humour designed to display the descent into bewildering behaviour from the adults, but after a fraught half an hour or so, it dissipates all too early. The tension in the claustrophobic setting of an apartment is palpable, as the two couples discuss a range of subjects from Africa, careers and politics but all the while in the middle of the room, is an inescapable vortex which represents the question of whose son is to blame. After much toing and froing and building up the tension up to borderline unbearable, Kate Winslet’s character Nancy projectile vomits across the coffee table – from this point on the strain is also released and never quite manages to reach the levels as before.

There’s no shortage of acting calibre on show here though. Leading actresses Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet are pitted alongside perennial supporting actors John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz. Foster’s Penelope is the main protagonist to start with and you can get a real sense of the pride in her son being torn to shreds by these invaders in her home and their belittling of her principles. Winslet puts on her pseudo-American accent she used to much effect in Titanic, and it hasn’t changed one bit. She does however bring a snobbiness to her character Nancy, that grates to the right degree with her ‘lesser’ hosts. John C. Reilly provides most of the comic relief as Michael – his blasé attitude to placing the family pet hamster on the sidewalk because it makes too much noise in the middle of the night is one of the film’s highlights. It is Christoph Waltz who takes most of the plaudits however, for his portrayal of prickly Alan, who manages to rub Penelope and Michael up the wrong way with his telephone conversations and the fact that he is responsible for potentially finishing off Michael’s mother who is taking the pre-op pills in question.

The acting in Carnage is no doubt sublime, but the script does not buzz with the same vitriol and humour that the stage version intended. The switching of allegiances based on couples, genders and principles is well done, but for this to truly work, there needed to be a very fine line between spitting venom and spouting witty one-liners.

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Review: The Muppets (2011)

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2011, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, James Bobin, Jason Segel, The Muppets

Director: James Bobin
Stars: Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Chris Cooper
Plot: Now disbanded, The Muppets are re-united with the help of three fans to save their old theatre from an oil tycoon.

As far as Muppet movies are concerned, our foamy friends have travelled around quite a bit, both through time and space. Since breaking onto the big screen in 1979 with The Muppet Movie, they went to Manhattan in 1984, back to Victorian times in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), sailed the high seas in Muppet Treasure Island (1996) and went high above the earth in Muppets from Space (1999). Commercial success has been hard to come by so, after a break of twelve years, has the franchise finally been revitalised?

Walter (voice by Peter Linz), a Muppet, lives with his human brother Gary (Segel) in Smalltown. They both became huge fans of The Muppet Show and while Gary grows from a child into a man, Walter stays exactly the same. After ten years dating his girlfriend Mary (Adams), Gary decides to take Mary to Los Angeles to celebrate their anniversary but he also invites Walter along so he can tour the Muppets’ former studio – Mary feels alienated by Gary’s insistence on putting Walter before her. When they reach their destination, Gary, Mary and Walter take a tour of the studio but while there, Walter sneaks into one of the offices and overhears Statler and Waldorf agreeing to sell the plot to Tex Richman (Cooper), a greedy oil magnate, who wants to destroy the Muppets’ former home and drill for the proverbial ‘black gold’ underneath. Walter also learns that $10 million would save the theatre from Richman’s clutches – he tells Gary and Mary and they go to find Kermit the Frog’s mansion.

The intrepid three tell Kermit about Tex’s plans and he decides to rally the troops and get the old gang back together, organising a telethon to raise the money. Firstly, they find Fozzie Bear who is working in Reno with tribute act, The Moopets. Next is Gonzo, who is now a plumbing magnate and then Animal, who is taking anger management sessions with Jack Black. To save time finding everyone else, the primary Muppets are re-united using a montage, with Rowlf the Dog and Miss Piggy the last to be found – the latter of whom is working as Vogue Paris’ “plus-sized” fashion editor. The Muppets pitch their idea for a new TV show to various networks but are turned down each time until they go to CDE’s executive Veronica (Rashida Jones), who initially rejects them for being passé, but when popular programme Punch Teacher is forcibly cancelled because of complaints, she gives them the green light. Now, with the gang ready to thrust themselves back into the limelight, they must hope the public respond and help them save the studio once and for all.

The Muppets is undeniably fun and there is a nostalgic mood that engulfs the film, especially when those familiar, (mostly) furry faces begin to assemble. Not only do we get to see our old favourite Muppets playing themselves for a change – past films have seen them mainly taking on different personas – we also see a modern take on Jim Henson’s creations, which should hopefully win them a new generation of fans. Screenwriters Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller have fashioned a plot that never lets up and manages to incorporate some witty one-liners as Kermit, Gary, Mary and Walter visit each of the original gang to persuade them to come out of retirement. There’s a strong emphasis on entertaining adult audiences with a few ‘knowing’ references mixed in with the real-life concerns, but children can just sit back and enjoy the manic Muppets themselves and the catchy musical numbers which will stay in your head for a while afterwards.

With the Muppets providing a ready-made cast, it is down to the humans to ensure that there is a good support and a dazzling array of cameos. Segel’s Gary, Adams’ Mary and Linz’s Walter are a great trio to follow and are very likeable. Jason Segel and Walter form a superb double-act and although Amy Adams is rather sidelined for most of the film, she gets into the spirit of the proceedings when she gets the opportunity with a song and dance. Jack Black is the star of the show, with perhaps his best role (as himself) since The School of Rock (2003) – having him as Animal’s anger management sponsor and then being forced to participate in the telethon whilst tied to a chair is pure genius. Alan Arkin, Zach Galifianakis, Emily Blunt (as Miss Piggy’s secretary in a nod to her role in The Devil Wears Prada) Whoopi Goldberg and Dave Grohl are just a few of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances.

If there’s one major criticism of The Muppets, it’s the sudden lapses into cheesy High School Musical territory, particularly with the final number Life’s a Happy Song which is a touch nauseating and Chris Cooper’s rendition of Let’s Talk About Me which is frankly cringeworthy. These quibbles aside though, this is a welcome entry in the Muppets’ cannon that should breathe new life into a previously faltering franchise.

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