2000 / Jonathan Glazer > Sexy Beast is a British gangster drama that’s three-quarters a character study and one-quarter the anatomy of a heist. In this separation is its uniqueness, with the verbal cuts of Ben Kingsley’s neurotic Don Logan running deep into the viewer’s mind as its best attribute. The overall dialogue is as crisp as it is biting, and music video director Glazer’s first feature film parlays quite a bit of his past vocation’s skillset with its quick cuts and rich colors. Pacing is far from conventional and somewhat uneven, and this may irk some while making others happy. In its own way, however, the film succeeds in being an exercise in realistic voyeurism while keeping the aura somewhat fantastical.
Category Archives: Europe
This Is England
2007 / Shane Meadows > The biggest problem for This Is England has to do with how often in the stateside it’ll be compared to American History X. The latter was notoriously lacking in dimension, filled with more artificial punches and a biased tweak that did little to explain the foundation of supremacists groups. But Meadows’ latest venture is far cleverer and reverent, utilizing the Falklands War as a backdrop to dissect the rationale behind the sort of fascism that Thatcher’s term brought forth in England. Centralized around a 12 year-old (played brilliantly by newcomer Thomas Turgoose), the film rarely judges and generally lets emotions adjust to the social situations as they are seen fit.
Both character and subplot development are somewhat erratic, but once Stephen Graham enters the screen, much is forgotten. His portrayal of “Combo” is worthy of much praise, and shocks and awes the viewer into being glued to the cinema. In addition to that, This Is England’s multi-layered discussion of racial tensions, class relations and national identity drive the film into being a touching, memorable experience.
28 Weeks Later
2007 / Juan Carlos Fresnadillo > While it lacks the overt philosophical base of its predecessor, it overwhelmingly makes up for it in its incredible, adrenaline-based pacing. Guided by Boyle, Fresnadillo kicks it up a notch with a simpler plotline that becomes more hectic, flashing a surprise or two in the pan as time passes. Only after the film has ended does one realize that the plot was fairly thin, but that’s fine because the experience is bafflingly good. Add to it a maddening score and you’ve got one of the finest, if slightly more intelligent, popcorn films of the year (at least for those who aren’t so afraid of the dark).
The Last Legion
2007 / Doug Lefler > As a huge fan of anything related to Ancient Rome, I was very much anticipating The Last Legion and its take on the dying days of the empire. Not shockingly, of course, disappointment rose up and stamped its feet well within the film’s first fifteen minutes. Now, it would be silly to expect an accurate depiction of a period of such mayhem and corruption, but what amazes me is the absolute lack of imagination put forth by the writers here. The only thing they could come up with was to somehow link Julius Caesar to King Arthur, but even that is a weak, fleeting piece of amusement amidst a barrage of cliches and a plot that’s driven by a game of cat and mouse. Moreover, Aishwarya Rai says she’s turned down Hollywood offers where the scripts did not suit her, but this? I imagine since she got a chance to play a hardened female warrior while being held tightly in Colin Firth’s bosom is enough to make up for a forgettable experience.
Sunshine
2007 / Danny Boyle > Sunshine crescendos into its finale in a way no other film has this year: It breaks through expectations into something surreal, almost messy, yet dazzlingly calculated. Boyle etches into our memories fear, hope, excitement and despair within a span of two hours by showing us the end of the world and the ways in which our ingenuity tries to prevent it. It’s intelligent and amusing, fusing genres and philosophies, and makes up for the arguable irrationality in the script with a thrill ride that’s as reverent for the body as it is for the mind.
Cashback
2007 / Sean Ellis > I wanted to like this more than I did. It’s got quite a few things going for it: An imaginative central character, heartbreak and attractive women (with insomnia thrown in for added flavor). But so much of the world that surrounds this central character lacks depth, enough so that it feels like plodding through a lot of mud to get to its basic foundation. Unfortunately, these basics, in the end, are a little too ideal and simple to be effective and memorable.
Starter for 10
2006 / Tom Vaughan > As a going-to-college-and-finding-myself story, Starter for 10 tries to be refreshing and original but ultimately falls back on stereotypes of girls, geeks and misunderstandings between best friends. That’s not to say that it isn’t arresting: It’s got enough tricks up its sleeve to keep our interest, with buxom beauties to Trivial Pursuit-brand trivia helping James McAvoy’s protagonist understand himself further. It’s funny and pleasant, and even while it tries to stretch itself thin sometimes with inadequate life-affirming theories, most viewers will let it slide and simply enjoy the ride.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007 / David Yates > I’m not a Harry Potter fanatic by any stretch of the imagination (i.e., I haven’t read the books), so I find watching these films an idle form of entertainment. In such, it’s hard for me to get riled up over them without understanding their long, literate histories (unlike my child-like giddiness towards Transformers). With Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I do feel like I’ve missed out on a lot of the meat by not having read the books (and not refreshing my memories of the last four), but I did come out of the theatre feeling quite comfortable about Yates taking Harry into maturity.
The darkened atmosphere surrounding Harry is quite welcoming to the sense of the world’s impending battle between good and evil. Dolores Umbridge as well as Luna Lovegood add some fresh spices to the character pool, an act that Cho Chang (and that sad, pathetic kiss) absolutely fails at. Fundamentally, it’s not always even or even coherent to us non-readers, and admittedly I did feel by the end that not much had happened. Retrospectively, however, it can be noted that many of the simple events that occur during the film are indeed rather significant in the battle against He Who Must Not Be Named. For that, I would’ve actually liked the film to have been longer, with more depth.
The Patriots
1994 / Eric Rochant > Never saw this one coming: An intelligent spy film that takes the personal aspect of Munich and turns it up a notch. Les Patriotes is less about the methods of espionage but more about human after effects. The ruthlessness and selflessness it takes for one to produce in the field is displayed poignantly in a well-paced effort by Rochant. It has some hiccups, especially with somewhat weak and often stereotypical American acting, but generally stays on point in opening up the world of Mossad to the viewer. A worthy find for those who are fans of the genre, but it may also bore those looking for spy/action films.
The Lives of Others
2006 / Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck > Every year, there are a few films that have nearly flawless executions. In 2006, The Lives of Others just might have led that pack. While I couldn’t find myself as emotionally attached to the story as those who are natives of Germany or have been in similar collectivist situations, interest in the film rarely waned once the plot started to roll. The story of the East German Stasi is not one I was previously familiar with, but the 1984-esque paranoia that rung around the film was thick, congestive and effective. Personally, I couldn’t agree with some of the character development and emotional manipulation that occurs as the show goes on, but overall, I also can’t be angry that this beat out Pan’s Labyrinth at the Oscars for Best Foreign Film. There’s much merit in its cold, calculated success.