Part 3 - #10 to #6
10. - INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS by Ethan Coen and Joel CoenThe Coen brothers shift slightly out of their comfort zone with a more character driven story that has an urban grittier film. Inside Llewyn Davis follows the predicaments of a struggling folk singer in new York City in the early sixties as he struggles to get the recognition and fame he feels he deserves as a musician. All the while, he certainly suffers for his art, constantly penniless – so much so that he is unable to even afford himself a winter coat – and encountering nothing but closed doors.
Oscar Isaac in the leading role is absolutely amazing and delivers the kind of magnetic performance that was required. In fact, his face alone is able to reveal an endless array of emotions from anger to frustration, concern and disenchantment to sadness and kind-heartedness. He’s a lot like a beaten dog, who despite the hardships takes his fair share of beatings and still relentlessly gets up for more. This is what also leads him on a desperate and in many ways hopeless trip to Chicago to meet a big producer and show him a latest work of his. On top of that, he is able to evoke great feeling through his singing as well as his acting. Strong support is provided by the likes of Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman.
On a narrative level, the film is engaging from start to finish. Though one would expect a certain frustrated and angry tone to dictate the tone of the film, Inside Llewyn Davis is soft-spoken and has a type of unexpected warmth that makes it endlessly charming. What is absolutely remarkable, in fact, is the way in which Joel and Ethan Coen are at their ease at not only telling the story in an engaging way, as they have after all done in the past. It is the way in which they remain totally respectful and faithful to not only Llewyn’s dreams and visions but also to the cultural atmosphere of the times and the type of music that is the true driving force of their latest work.
And at this point, it is only right to mention that the soundtrack is memorable and it’s easy to see that some of its numbers in particular will spin off and take on a life of their own beyond the film. The photography is also arguably much grainier that in any other film by the Coens. This evokes the style of the cinema of the time, the American New Wave, where a lot of the films were also character driven. This adds to the faithful atmosphere of the time and conveys the prestige of the work that is certainly among the most solid that the great American filmmakers have ever made.
9. - UPSTREAM COLOR by Shane Carruth
A man and a woman are drawn together and become entangled in the life of an ageless organism. This film by Shane Carruth is a wonderful piece of experimental cinema.
With a wonderful visual style which is reminiscent of Terence Malick and an enigmatic but gripping narrative that recalls David Lynch, Upstream Color is strange, hypnotic and downright mysterious yet even extremely tender and human in daring to pose huge questions about existentialism. Furthermore, it is creative in every sense – from its visuals, editing and soundtrack, everything seems carefully studied.
Nevertheless, it still has that beat style that seems improvised as well as poetic. More than experimental, in fact, this film is interactive. Because Carruth does not seem to follow any strict structural form, he actually chooses to leave some parts of the story disconnected and some gaps for its audience to fill in with their own emotions and perceptions of the film, images and sounds. This approach makes Upstream Color very rewarding on levels that are more than superficial, as he is successful in letting the audience play an active part and feel as much pain, pleasure and confusion about relationships, love, hate and the mystery of life as the characters do.
8. - THE ARMSTRONG LIE by Alex Gibney
The exploration of the construction of a lie. The investigative documentarian par excellence of this generation, Alex Gibney, returns shortly after the release of his fearless The Story of WikiLeaks and Mea Maxima Culpa with another gripping and exciting documentary that retains the urgency of unfolding history.
Here, the subject of his documentary is Lance Armstrong, the seven times Tour de France winner who was caught for doping, thus tainting his legacy as sports icon. The interesting aspect is that in 2009, Armstrong’s return to the Tour the France after his retirement would have been the subject of another Gibney documentary which would have looked at him in a totally different perspective. This adds a personal element to the film which makes it a little more personal and hence interesting whilst never taking over the mystery of the plot as it unravels at an exciting pace.
Gripping and entertaining, this is essentially a film about the meticulous and architectural as well as essentially malignant construction of a lie but also provides an interesting behind the scene viewpoint on a sport tainted renowned for being repeatedly tainted by doping scandals whilst being accessible to an audience that wouldn’t be very familiar with the sport.
In short, it seems that Alex Gibney is a trend setter and there is no one better, at least in cinema nowadays, in making the kind of films that he makes and in making them with such an amazing consistency.
7. - PHILOMENA by Stephen Frears
A down and out reporter comes across an Irish woman named Philomena whose son, who would now be fifty, was taken away from her by the Magdalene Sisters. He decides to write an article about her as he helps her trying to find him.
The screenplay, based on a true story, is solid gold, with its perfectly timed balance of humour and drama. Furthermore, despite the fact that it deals with the heavy issue of a Catholic Church scandal, it also remains quite balanced in dealing with it from the two different perspectives of the lead characters on faith and spiritualism in general.
The acing is masterful. Judi Dench stars as the titular character with a performance that is full of sensibility and humanity – it is arguably her best performance of all time, sweetly melancholic and humorous. Steve Coogan opposite her is the perfect disenchanted cynic – he also deserves praise for co-writing the screenplay and producing the film. All in all, Frears’ film is a crowd pleaser but one full of meaning and purpose which aims to achieve the prose that most of its kind fail to accomplish and is successful at doing just that.
6. - THE CONJURING by James Wan
Based on true events, this is the story of when paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren worked on a family terrorized by dark presences in their farmhouse.
It is understandable that the horror genre should be treated with a little scepticism and snobbery when criticised, particularly considering the repetitive commercial formulas that have widely dominated its existence, at least on a mainstream level. However, James Wan's film The Conjuring aims and achieves to totally shift the usual horror perceptions and receptions.
This film is not only stylistically tasteful, thanks to Wan's borrowing the style of the old-school film especially ones from the late sixties and seventies, which we may consider the golden age of horror. It is also a genuinely terrifying experience due to a great use of a claustrophobic atmosphere and the darker paranormal factors. But apart from the great visual style, the film wouldn't be as terrifying if it wasn't for the attention which Wan decides to give to the dramatic aspect of the film, particularly in the intimate domestic aspects and the theme of family.
The Conjuring is one of those rare instances of wonderful balance in horror, and that is another reason why it deserves praise and attention.
to be continued...