Film No. 19 (2017) Denial March 25th.

Film No. 19 (2017) March 25th.  11.00 AM LUNA PALACE, Leederville. 

"Well, the man's an anti-semite and a racist. It's like having shit on your shoe. You wipe it off. You don't study it" (Anthony Julius responds to the question as to why he wasn't excited about some of the arguments put to Irving in court).

Another true tale told, in the main as a courtroom drama. A particularly well crafted legal parry, it must be said, with not a gaol sentence insight, only the pride of historians and solicitors at stake. The well known Holocaust denier David Irving (Timothy Spall) sues historian Debora Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz), claiming she was destroying his reputation as an historian. And so Denial becomes  an interesting debate between common sense and a crank in the most formal of British courts. If not slightly long, Denial is a great mix of British banter and American naivety. 8GUMS 

Film No. 18 (2017) Just To Be Sure (Otez-Moi D'un DOUTE) March 17th.

Film No. 18 (2017) March 17th.  11.00 PM LUNA SX, Fremantle.  Alliance Francaise Festival Perth 15.03 - 05.04.

"When we open the envelop we either use the room or walk away, it's the way I like to play it" (Anna lays it on the line to Erwan before they open the envelope with an answer to a key question).

So how would we feel to find out we aren't the flesh and blood we thought we were? Well, 110 minutes in company with Just To Be Sure may help to give a sense of that precise feeling. Erwan (Francois Damiens) is a grounded widower who by chance discovers the father he's loved through life is not of the same D.N.A. But as he seeks to find the truth, life takes a series of turns which set to challenge our Erwan's heart. Typically, Otez-Moi is a solid French social drama glued together by charismatic performances, particularly from Damiens and Cecile De France as Anna. A good wet and wintery Sunday afternoon watch. 8GUMS.    

Film No. 17 (2017) Quo Vado March 19th.

Film No. 17 (2017) March 19th.  2.00 PM THE REDMOND THEATRE, Ocean Reef.

"Every one in Italy wants a permanent job".

Quo Vado broke Italian cinema box office records in 2015. Possibly because so many natives could relate to the comic depictions of a theme close to their collective hearts; the welded on notion that securing a public servant position was one of life's lotto wins. Chekko (Chekko Zalone) leads us on this light and very amusing morality tale. The fun is universal as Chekko's simplistic, but heartfelt life story is unveiled, flashback style in a deep, dark jungle. Why? well all is revealed. There is nothing new, but it is tight, funny and the Italians just loved it. 9GUMS. 

Film No. 16 (2017) Loving March 9th.

Film No. 16 (2017) March 9th.  6.45 PM LUNA Paradiso, Northbridge.

"We just love each other, we're not doing anyone any harm" (Richie Loving states his case to anyone who has an inclination to listen).

The marriage between Mildred and Richie Loving in the late sixties depicted in the Time/Life photographs showing their unabashed love for one another will remain etched in the fabric of the U.S. psyche  for eternity. Loving captures the essence of what can happen to good people when injustice threatens to strangle their spirit. Then when good people, with influence, find them and fight their case the marriage law in the U.S. is changed for ever. In a landscape of films re-enacting real events Loving is a stand out. Edgerton and Negga don't need dialogue to convey exactly how much outrage we feel for their predicament. 10GUMS. 

Film No. 14 (2017) A Few Less Men February 28th.

Film No. 14 (2017) February 28th.  6.30 PM Greater Union Event Cinema, Innaloo.

"He's got an enormous boner" (said on numerous occasions by numerous people throughout the film).

Find the 2.33 minute trailer for A Few Less Men, view it and you'll save yourself money and time on catching the cinema release. If, after that viewing you feel ungratified then feel secure in the fact you won't be alone.

I so wanted to praise a film shot in this beautiful state (Western Australia) in which I live and love. But I can't. This sequel to A Few Best Men may be slightly better than its predecessor, but why on earth was it made? I was mildly amused on four to five occasions. This is not a good sign for a 93 minute feature length comedy.

So let me reiterate; watch the trailer and be done with it. You'll get as much amusement as I did over 93 minutes.  3GUMS

  

Film No. 13 (2017) Alone in Berlin February 27th.

Film No. 13 (2017) February 27th.  6.45 PM LUNA Paradiso, Northbridge.

"Germany has taken my only son, for you, for the fuhrer, what more can a man donate than his child?" (Otto rebuts an accusation that he has made no contribution to Germany's war effort).

The story underpinning Alone in Berlin is a fascinating tale of parents singlemindedly dealing with the loss of their only son during Germany's push to become the supreme race. The film reenacts the fictionalised novel of the same name by Hans Fallada telling the story of Otto and Elise Hampel (Brendon Gleeson and Emma Thompson) who used their own version of social media in the form of postcards to spread anti Hitler messages around their city.

The fact the film is a German tale, played out in Berlin by German film-makers using English character actors is surprising and at the same time perplexing. The dialogue is in english with german accents but all the text on screen is in german. That's clunky to say the least. If the same technique had been used in The Lives of Others I feel sure it wouldn't have been that award winner it became.

The strange thing is, Gleeson and Thompson are brilliant as the grieving parents, it's just that their brilliance can't make the whole body of work gel. The fact that this tale is based on the lives of grieving parents with so much less to live for now their only child has been senselessly killed makes it a tale worth telling. The simplicity of Otto's use of social media, 1940's style, is intriguing to say the least.


Perhaps the film's greatest attribute, in this time of political unrest is it's anti war message. The British / German co production gives insight, if slightly heavy handedly, into Berlin life under nazi rule through the eyes of humble people. Alone in Berlin has lots to say and despite my mild reservations is well worth a look. 8GUMS.   

Film No. 15 (2017) Handsome Devil March 5th.

Film No. 15 (2017) March 5th.  8.00 PM SOMERVILLE U.W.A. Nedlands.

 

"Everyone at Woodpile College is obsessed with rugby. I didn't hate rugby, but what happened if you didn't love it?" (The opening voiceover of Ned as he begins his coming of age adventure at boarding school).

Loner, red head independent thinker, Ned, shares boarding accommodation with talented rugby sports jock, Nick, in a coming of age tale which gets bogged in cliche, but only slightly. What begins on the surface as a laugh out loud comedy develops to become something deeper in it's interpretation of boys, their families, their friends, belonging, stereotyping and yes, you guessed it, coming of age. In a genre packed with classics, Handsome Devil's understatement and offbeat character performances will win you over. I can't guarantee however that you'll remember a sliver of what it was about 24 hours on. 7GUMS.  

Film No. 12 (2017) Hidden Figures February 19th.

Film No. 12 (2017) February 19th 10.30 AM ACE Cinemas Rockingham.

"Three negro women are chasing a police officer down the highway in 1961, that is a god ordained miracle" (Dorothy shouts to her two colleagues as they speed to their work-place under police escort).

Hidden Figures is an old fashioned film depicting old fashioned values, using old fashioned techniques with a solid old fashioned ending. In no way should my previous sentence be construed as a blight on the film because it is a delightfully produced 115 minutes of quality entertainment. Given its pure Hollywood pedigree it was fitting Hidden Figures should receive a Best Picture Oscar nomination.


Katherine Johnson (Taraji Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monroe) all had brilliant careers as NASA employees beginning in the early sixties. So what? you may well ask. What makes their story worth telling? Well, being ambitious black African women in the U.S. during the sixties definitely wasn't a prerequisite for success. Hidden Figures tells the story of three such women who reached the pinnacles of their professions despite the adversity they encountered because of their skin colour.


The film begins with our key characters on the side of the road, with car problems. They are already employees of NASA thus we are not privy to how they won their jobs in the nation's prestigious space agency; stories worth telling in themselves. Katherine gains most focus as the maths genius who has John Glenn indicating he'll only trust her calculations if he is to succeed in returning to earth. 


Al Harrison (Kevin Costner) returns to his cool, controlled roots as he singlehandedly beats down the barriers Katherine faces as a minority in the NASA work place. Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Mitchell  gradually softens her prejudices as Dorothy earns her stripes by displaying her computing smarts. Put simply, there are no surprises in the story but there is in the unveiling of three heroes, whos stories have rarely been heard. Disney would be proud to call Hidden Figures one of theirs.  9GUMS.