Film No. 29 (2014) Fading Gigolo April 23rd.

Film No. 29 (2014) April 23rd. 6:30 AM LUNA Windsor Nedlands.

Fading Gigolo

I'm not sure that I have anticipated a film more this year than Fading Gigolo. The mere thought of Woody Allen, playing Woody Allen as a character is tantalising.

See, I've got you salivating at the idea as well. But, unfortunately, as this small, soulless film plays out, my heart sank with disappointment with every minute that passed. That's not to say many folk won't enjoy the antics played out in Gigolo. My issue was over inflated expectation; it happens to us all on occasions.

Murray Schwartz (Allen)owns a book store. Times are hard and his part-timer Fiorarente (Turturro) is doing it tougher. Schwartz learns from his dermatologist (Sharon Stone) that she's interested in partaking in a three-some and she asks does he know of a willing participant? Enter Fiorarente. And so this odd partnership unfolds without a hint of sleaze.

Fiorarente produces the drama, care of a gentle relationship with Avigal (Vanessa Paradis) while being watched from afar by the odd looking Dovi (Liev Schreiber). Even as I type, I continue to build my hopes. Woody has the odd hilarious line and all the characters deliver; it is just the chemistry doesn't work and I still can't quite figure why?  7GUMS     

 

Film No. 28 (2014) Wadjda April 21st.

Film No. 28 (2014) April 21st. 10:30 AM LUNA SX Fremantle. 

Wadjda

Sometimes a film made in a small country with an even smaller film industry use Hollywood cliches because they know no better. Not Wadjda, the first feature length film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, it is a gem! There is nothing blockbuster about it. Haifaa Al-Mansour takes her audience to her country to give us a sense of what it's like to be a muslim woman.

Waad Mohammed plays Wadjda and shows her to be a feisty 10 year old with plans and ambitions. She fights against wearing a veil, she detests the way men treat her mother, she plays out a warm friendship with a boy, but most of all she wants to ride a bike, her own bike. She wants to race faster than her "boyfriend" Abdullah. 

On finding the bike of her dreams, we "ride" with Wadjda through the maze of her culture's conflicting expectations and the determined approach she has in her quest to prove her own independence.

The film is a credit to Al-Mansour, who leant much of her craft here in Australia and like Wadjda would have stepped on forbidden ground to have the film distributed world wide.  She gives us a sense of her dry, wind swept land via the simplest of tales.  10GUMS   

Film No. 27 (2014) 52 Tuesdays April 17th.

Film No. 27 (2014) April 17th. 6:30 PM PARADISO Northbridge.

52 Tuesdays

The most interesting films, other than the odd independent, produced in Australia still come via The South Australian Film Corporation. 52 Tuesdays is the latest product from the SAFC stable living up to its name in every way. The film was shot in the same time frame as its title so that we see the subtle changes in real time of the characters as they live their unconventional lives.

The producers even took the time to produce an information brief on what an audience needed to understand about transgender change and that as Jane becomes James (Del Herbert-Jane) in the film's first stanza the process is complicated and it was better for us to be enlightened. I enjoyed the document as a post-curser in preference to a pre.

Surprisingly however, the James character forms the under current of the film. The film's flow is dominated by Billie (Tida Cobham-Harvey)as she deals with adolescence and the ways she needs to experiment to deal with the many dimensions of relationships.

52 Tuesdays is fresh, confronting but more importantly revealing. Behind the walls of each small urban house there is a story and this is another tale, an unconventional suburban sliver. Coban-Harvey is as stunning as Rose Byrne was in her feature debut, Two Hands. 8GUMS. 

Film No. 26 (2014) The Other Woman April 16th.

Film No. 26 (2014) April 16th. 6:30 PM GREATER UNION Innaloo.

The Other Woman

Okay ........... so I couldn't resist a free preview film. I saw the trailer of The Other Woman once previously and I recall commenting at the time, "this will be crap". Well, I wasn't wrong. There are however many things about the film which will attract an audience.

The leads are attractive; Dias, Mann and Upton fill every scene with a new outfit to push the envy buttons of many fashion doyens. Amber (Upton), a sports illustrated bikini finalist, is sure to cause popcorn to be spilled in the lap of many. See, I told you it was a film of little substance.

Now for the plot; it's not deep! Carli (Dias) meets Mark and falls for him. She soon discovers he's married to Kate (Mann). Kate and Carli form a friendship based on a series of "wet" one-liners. Soon they find Mark is also "bonking" Amber (Upton). Eventually they form a three way bond to plot revenge. The Poster very nearly gives the whole story away.

It is rare to see a film these days in a packed cinema. I was a part of a 400 strong audience and I counted 4 spontaneous outbursts of laughter. The Other Woman "bleats" about being a comedy; a female romp in the realm of Bridesmaids. I think not. 2GUMS. PS. Remember, at 109 mins it is time you will never retrieve.    

Film No. 25 (2014) The Invisible Woman April 9th.

Film No. 25 (2014) April 9th. 6:30 PM THE WINDSOR Nedlands.

The Invisible Woman

Charles Dickens was a showman and celebrity of the 19th century. He travelled The U.K. and the world reading his stories to packed audiences in the same way a stand up comic spreads his wares. So when he meets a young, intelligent actress Ellen (Felicity Jones), more than half his age and falls in love, we can't help but wonder what the tabloids would have made of that in 2014.

Ralph Fiennes brings Dickens to life both as director and actor. Given his brilliance in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ralph is "on a roll"; Invisible is an entertaining feature film and will do very nicely at Perth's Windsor and Cygnet cinemas' where the more mature theatre goer spends their time.

The story is simple. My theory is that the seed of this interpretation of forbidden love, well published in the latter years of Dicken's life, stemmed from a letter he sent to The Times, to quell rumors of his social predicament. With no such thing as twitter this was how celebrities had personal contact with the masses.

Felicity Jones emerges as a real talent. Her relationship with her mother (Kristen Scott Thomas) is the catalyst for the secret to be kept "in house". Miss Jones has beauty but retains the believable secret which holds the film up as entertainment. This is a costume romp to be enjoyed by many. 8GUMS

Film No. 24 (2014) Chinese Puzzle April 7rd.

Film No. 24 (2014) April 7rd. 6:30 PM PARADISO Northbridge.

Chinese Puzzle (French)

This is my forth French film in a month and my disappointment continues. Chinese Puzzle is a polished, well made film which takes us into the world of a Gen Y male, Xavier, whose complicated life would cause any warm blooded person a "truck load" of stress.

We are asked the question, however; are Xavier's decisions made from the heart or because his publisher continues to press him for life with complication. Xavier is writing a book (Chinese Puzzle), an ongoing manuscript whereby publication will depend on the spice our hero can maintain in his life. A puzzle indeed.

My problem with the film lies with Xavier, or more specifically, Romain Duris. In the same way Hugh Grant was the spark which ignited Four Weddings, Puzzle needed that same "boost", a "boost" Duris could not deliver. Each character is so likable that our hero needed to stand out from "the pack".

Audrey Tatou is extremely likeable, for the same reasons she is loved in most roles she plays. She quietly blends into the film adding to Xavier's complicated life and then assisting him to "settle". Audrey is the best thing in this puzzle of a film.  5GUMS 

Film No. 23 (2014) Any Day Now April 3rd.

Film No. 23 (2014) April 3rd. 6:30 PM PARADISO Northbridge.

Any Day Now.


I'd heard or read nothing of ANY DAY NOW prior to this preview showing. The promo poster displayed the usual stamps of independent film award nominations and accolades; so on viewing this "big hearted" drama I was looking forward to the closing titles informing its audience of the "true life" incidents which fuelled the story. There were none!


The year is 1979; director Travis Fine brings to life the story of two gay men who meet, fall in love and then fall in love again with a Down Syndrome teen named Marco who has no control over the neglectful way he is treated by his mother.


ANY DAY NOW is a very manipulative film and makes no excuses for being so. The success of the film revolves around Rudy (Alan Cummings), Paul (Garret Dillahunt) and Marco (Isaac Leyva)who work together to build audience anger that a civilised system would allow the injustice that real care is denied because of two men's sexual preference.


Alan Cummings is outstanding, he reminded me of the character performances of Dustin Hoffman in the eighties. I feel sure Hoffman did not have the voice of Cummings. The soundtrack has a unique edge and Cummings is the reason for that! 8GUMS. 

Film No. 22 (2014) Divergent April 2nd.

Film No. 22 (2014) April 2nd. 6:30 PM READING Belmont.

Divergent.

Young adults being placed in highly stressful situations has been a popular theme in our cinemas over recent years. The Hunger Games set the pattern and now comes Divergent; another story of a world (Chicago immediately after war) in the near future where young bodies and minds need to be taken very seriously.

This mini epic of a film has reconfigured the inhabitants left standing into factions; the peaceful, the honest, the intelligent, the selfless and the brave form the divisions. We meet Tris (Shailene Woodley) who, along with her brother, has been raised selflessly but must now decide for herself her own factional path. She chooses the path of the Brave and all is not what it seems.

A great idea don't you think? Well I agree, unfortunately 140 minutes of this great idea is spent exploring cliched romance, buddy and fight scenes. A tried and tested path and one which should help to sell much popcorn.

Sharlene Woodley who is fast becoming flavour of our time (The Descendants and The Spectacular Now) has presence and Theo James (Four) teams up to make for an attractive mix. A good idea but nothing new. 6GUMS    

Film No. 21 (2014) The Grand Budapest Hotel March 29th.

Film No. 21 (2014) March 29th. 11:00 LUNA Leederville.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson just gets better. He is a pure film maker who loves to have fun. A director can take such a risk by leaving an audience in their wake while devising the sort of merriment that Anderson regularly concocts. He did it to an extent with the slightly self indulgent The Darjeeling Limited. He does no such thing in The Grand Budapest Hotel. This film is a delight.

Once again he gathers his acting cavalry together; Norton, Swinton, Murray (Bill), Wilson, Dafoe, Goldblum, Brody then recruits new blood in the form of Ralph Fiennes to play his lead, a legend by the name of Gustave H. But the charmer is Zero played by Tony Revolori, also a new comer. 

The story is told through the eyes of a story teller through the eyes of our Bell Hop (Zero) with time lapses. This may sound confusing but it is not. Zero teams with Gustave H to form a buddy relationship to warm the heart. Then there is a heist and a chase; a more worldly chase than that of Moonrise Kingdom.

Perhaps Anderson has mastered his own style this time. I love the Wes Anderson way but not everyone does. I recommend you ween yourself on Rushmore, an earlier Anderson classic, to see if he suits your taste ..... I'd hate to see you waste your time on TGBH if you don't like his films.    11GUMS