No. 22 (2023) THE BLUE CAFTAN (LE BLEU DU CAFTAN; Morocco) March 23rd.

 

Film No. 22 (2023)  March 23rd.  7:30 PM SOMERVILLE Outdoor U.W.A.                       

"No one wants to learn the craft any more, Halim." (Mina rebuffs her husbands claim that their new employee Youssef is keen to master the craft of caftan making).

WINNER : FIPRESCI Prize (Maryam Toyzani); Cannes Film Festival 2022. WINNER : Best Director (Maryam Toyzani) Chicago International Film Festival.

THE BLUE CAFTAN has been deeply affecting for audiences, world wide. The reason? Well, breast cancer has affected people, families and friends who have been close to those who have fought the hard fight, in every corner of our globe. It is a raw theme for those who continue to find this subject matter unbearable. I've been lucky. While I have been exposed, via friendships, it is not as raw, personally. So be warned. THE BLUE CAFTAN is, however, a wonderful film. Some say the best film ever to come out of Morocco. 

Moroccan culture is not something I'm familiar with. My time with THE BLUE CAFTAN gave me some insight into a day to day existence in an Arab world via traditional embroidered caftan tailor Halim (Saleh Bakri),  his wife and business partner Mina (Lubna Azabal) and their newly inducted apprentice, Youseff (Ayoub Missioui). Here is a story weaving desire, love, heart-ache and care of the human kind. These same emotions are  generated  as we follow the meticulousness by which a caftan is crafted. The making of this blue caftan is the control by which director Maryam Touzani (ADAM) threads this rich story together. Her competence in craft (film) matches the stitch making art she depicts so beautifully.

Perhaps the greatest beauty to evolve is the love and care all three players show for one another. While the affection Halim and Youseff develop for one another is of a repressive nature, Mina understands. There is never a bitterness or anger directed towards either. They all work towards a cause; the business, the caftan and then finally the  journey they must embark on to help Mina in her ultimate battle. The cancer that has returned.  

Some films simply take us by the hand and immerse us into a drama that massages our care and empathy "nodes". Each with such a gentle power we stare at the rolling titles knowing we have been nourished. CLOSE and now CAFTAN have provided me with just such nourishment in recent weeks. Thank you Belgium, thank you Morocco.   11GUMS. 

  

 

   

 

No. 21 (2023) ONE FINE MORNING March. 22nd.

 

Film No. 21  (2023)  March 22nd.  3:20 PM PALACE Raine Sq, Cinema 3, Perth City.

"Georg Kienzler's daughter yeah? I was a student of his. He was amazing. I just wanted to tell you." (Sandra is stopped on campus and gets an emotional reminder of what her ill father meant to an ex-student).

WINNER: (Mia Hansen-Love), Label Europa Cinemas; Cannes Film Festival (2022). NOMINEE: (Lea Seydoyx) European Actress; EUROPEAN FILM AWARD. 

Mia Hansen-Love is a very unique film-maker. Her style is understated and at the same time, quite remarkable. Hansen-Love created a wave of interest in her work, recently, with BERGMAN ISLAND. A film within a film, so totally understated that each scene held the audience in a trance of meditative calm. ONE FINE MORNING has similar qualities with its own inbuilt beauty.

Lea Seydoux plays Sandra, a thirty something single mum  (her husband has died 5 years earlier).  We spend two to three years with her as she lives her life. She is an international interpreter, she is there for her daughter between caring for her father, Georg (Pascal Greggory)  who is slowly dying of a degenerative disease and socialising with her sister, Elodie (Sarah Le Picard). Sandra is easy company traverses through life; so where is the drama?

The magic of Hansen-Love films come in the form of rounded characters, living full lives with no melodrama. But this is not to say Sandra does not get bruised by the fluctuating fortunes of life. Sandra falls for a married man, in a relationship  which starts as a fling, then "grows legs." This occurs while she is taking the majority of responsibility for her father, ferrying him first from home then to care facilities.  The experience is emotionally draining for her. Sandra is so likeable we are putty in her hands, and hope she will find happiness. 

In the hands of Hansen-Love and Seydoux, ONE FINE MORNING is a fine film. With themes of desire, infidelity, heartbreak, love and empathetic care for the elderly; shot always with a unique naturalism, this film experience is one to savour. If you loved THINGS TO COME and/or BERGMAN ISLAND this film will please as well. 10GUMS.   

 

 

No. 23 (2023) AIR March 28th.

 

Film No. 23  (2023)  March 28th.  6:15 PM EVENT Cinemas, Cine 11   Woodlands W.A.

"When you were selling sneakers out of the back of your Plymouth, that was risky. Don't change that now " (Vaccaro explains his strategy for attracting Jordan to try to convince his cynical boss, Phil Knight).

WORLD PREMIERE: April 5th 2023. 

Note of Interest: Affleck asked MJ for input. MJ had only one request, that Viola Davis play his mother. Viola was available and plays Deloris Jordan with aplomb. 

In 1997, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were out of work actors with no prospects, and the skeleton of a promising script written by Damon. Their willingness to make friends with Rob Reiner and then Harvey Weinstein (now an ex-friend) and take risks, paid off. That script became the screenplay for GOOD WILL HUNTING. The rest as they say, is history. 25 years on, AIR hits screens world wide. It tells the  story of how an everyday man took Nike into the realms of becoming the mega business it is today. How? By in 1984 signing the then 18 year old Michael Jordan to a shoe deal. 

Is it any good? Yes it is everything a sports lover, a movie buff, even a once a year movie goer, might love about a trip to the cinema. Sports movies generally tell an uplifting story of a team or sports person picking them selves up by the "bootstraps" and celebrating ultimate success. AIR is just that, but when the hero is an overweight marketing executive, who remains as overweight when the film ends as when we first meet him, there is a point of difference. The film's hero is Steve Vaccaro played to perfection by Matt Damon.

It is Damon's film. His take of the legendary sports marketing executive is special. Vaccaro is a good guy (classic Damon) who brings his team around to his way of thinking, to pull off what is still regarded as the biggest sports marketing coup ever devised. Vaccaro was, and still is, the everyday guy whose passion it is to work with sports organisations. Damon's talent is truly on show as he gives us the most likeable, highest achieving slob ever recreated on screen. It's a big call I know, but I've made it.  

Affleck directs this minor masterpiece in a way that does justice to historical events, salutes the eccentric characters central to the story, and most of all creates an entertainment that runs for 110 minutes but feels like 80. I knew little of the story behind the gargantuan Nike marketing machine that is Air Jordan. Other than Michael Jordan I'd never heard of this Nike team, including founder Phil Knight (played by Affleck). Maybe that's part of the reason I enjoyed AIR so much!  11GUMS.  

Oh, if you're going because you think you will see a depiction of Michael Jordan on screen, forget it. It's a major reason why the film is so good. 

No. 20 (2023) ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED March. 19th.

 

Film No. 20  (2023)  March 19th.  1:45 PM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 8,   Leederville.

"Her work was about power, and particularly about power that men had over women" (A friend describes Nan's early work with her camera and what her lens captured on film).

WINNER : GOLDEN LION (Laura Poitras) Venice Film Festival.

It's rare for The Golden Lion (Venice's most prestigious award) to go to a documentary. ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED became only the second documentary to win in the festival's 79 year history. It deserves a few accolades in my opinion; if The Lion is one, then I applaud the selection. 

It wasn't till the screen faded to black and I began to think about Nan Goldin, the focus of Laura Poitras's cameras, that I really began to appreciate  Nan and the film's message. 

Poitras (CITIZENFOUR, RISK) in general, makes films to prick public consciousness. Her work in bringing facts in relation to Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning's revelations of state secrets to the public has been thorough. Nan Goldin is an admirer of Poitras's work. Consequentially Goldin asked Poitras to film the work of P.A.I.N (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), her activist movement to make the Sackler family be, in some way, held accountable for their greed and lack of conscience in the distribution of OxyContin, an addictive painkiller.

Put simply, Poitras found many dimensions to the life and times of Nan Goldin which gave answers as to why this prodigious photographic artist is a person of such international interest. It's a riveting watch. A Type personalities make the best fodder for interesting stories. Nan Goldin is a good person who has come to grips with who she is, and while there is anger emanating from her past, her activism allows her to vent, and at the same time do good.

ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED is the epitome of an intelligent work of art. Much like Nan Goldin's life story in photographs. 11GUMS.     

 

  

No. 19 (2023) PEARL March. 16th.

 

Film No. 19  (2023)  March 16th.  11:15 AM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 4,   Leederville.

"Now caring for your family during these times is admirable, but you only get one take at this life" (Pearl's new friend, The Projectionist, offers Pearl some advice.  Advice that has Pearl captivated).

WINNER : BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE (Mia Goth), BEST HORROR FILM (Ti West) . Hawaii Film Critics Society.

Within eighteen months Mia Goth and Ti West have created two minor classics. 29 year old Goth and 40 something West burst onto our screens with X (2022) and have followed up with PEARL (2023), a prequel. Both belong to the slasher genre, but each are quite different in form and story. Goth and West have blown fresh life into a very popular genre, so simply, and with such respect for cinema.

What do I mean when I refer to PEARL as a prequel? In the context of cinema, PEARL is a perfect example. Writer/Director Ty West, with the help of fellow scribe Mia Goth devised X (2022); the story of amateur film-makers keen to try their hand at porn. They hire a barn, it's the 70's and their landlord is a very strange lady.- you guessed it, her name is Pearl. It turns our Pearl is a bit more than strange.

Cut to PEARL. It's 1918 and we meet young Pearl living with an unloving mother and a physically dependent, wheelchair bound father on a ranch. The war is over and she waits for her husband to return. It's the pandemic (Spanish Flu) that is causing most angst in the community. But from Pearl's POV it's her desire to escape the prison that is home and the oppressive rule of her mother. She wants to dance. Dance may be her passport. There you have it. PEARL the prequel. If you have seen X then pennies will drop immediately. You don't, however have to have seen X.

This is a cleverly devised franchise. West and Goth are serious film-makers. SAW began with a one off mini classic but with every sequel from then on, predictability ruled. The West and Goth camp have far more control over their story telling. And the artistic aura that is captured in their films reflects the respect they have for a genre they want to re-represent. Clever!  

PEARL and X are only the beginning, MAXXXINE is next. I can't wait. 10GUMS.   

  

 

    

No. 18 (2023) OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN (LES ENFANTS DES AUTRES) Palace French Film Festival, Perth W.A. March. 14th.

 

Film No. 18  (2023)  March 14th.  11:00 AM LUNA LEEDERVILLE, Cinema 1, Leederville.

"It's not always easy, other people's children." (Ali continues to delay his approval to allow daughter Leila to meet Rachel).

WINNER: Best Actress (Virginie Efira), Lumiere Award; Editing (Geraldine Mangenot) Seville Film Festival.

Virginie Efira stars in LES ENFANTS, and for good reason. Her character, Rachel, is one of life's good people who can't seem to get the final pieces of her good life to date, to drop into place.

This affecting drama will no doubt strike a cord with many who have experienced similar frustrations in life. Director Rebecca Zlotowski (SAVAGES, GRAND CENTRAL) has created a film that may be close to home. There is such an intimacy to how she treats Rachel; her own life experience as a 40 something year old may shine through. Only Rebecca Z would know.

The two dimentionalness (no such word I know, but you know what I mean) with which Zlotowski treats the men of LES ENFANTS holds the key to her message. Rachel is attractive, full of life and in a hurry for true love, and a family.  Ali (Roschdy Zem), a recently separated slightly older man falls for Rachel. For Rachel the relationship is soon less about Ali, and more about his 4 year old daughter Leila (Callie Ferreira-Goncalves). But  Ali is controlling of Rachel's access to Leila.  Rachel is fixated with being loved by Leila and her hope that this relationship is where her future lies. 

It's a drama, so complications inevitably lie ahead. Along with all the choices Rachel makes comes Vincent (Henri-Noel Tabary and Dylan (Victor Lefebvre). These younger men are attracted to Rachel via her vivacious workplace personality. She's a gifted teacher and never closes the door completely on the adulation that is on offer. It has been a part of who she is. 

It's a film to appeal mainly to women. It will strike a chord for some. Hopefully Rececca Z hasn't painted men with too dull a lustre. And so how does it all end? Quite brilliantly from where I was sitting.   10GUMS.

 

No. 17 (2023) CLOSE March. 8th.

 

Film No. 17 (2023)  March 8th.  7:30 PM SOMERVILLE Outdoor U.W.A.                       

"We are close because we are best friends." (Leo sets the record straight amongst class mates who ponder the friendship he has with Remi).

WINNER : Andre Cavens Award (Lukas Dhont); Belgium Film Festival 2022. Nominee: Best International Film (Lukas Dhont) Academy of USA.

The burden of guilt has often been a theme for strong drama in cinema. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, one of my favourite films over recent years, comes to mind immediately. The guilt here is laid squarely at the feet of an adult; a father who lost his children because of a decision he made. A decision he will regret till he dies. In CLOSE the burden is borne by a 13 year old boy. In a mind so young, the excruciating anxiety of his regret has all of us hoping he will find a way to repair.

Why does he need to heal? Well, we meet Leo and Remi as best friends. They have a summer game where an imaginary enemy is seeking them and they need to escape, on foot, from their bunker, their fortress. We meet them escaping and running through the landscape of their childhood. A flower farm on Leo's parents property. It's a wonderful scene of solidarity.  Their relationship has been and is special. 

Cut to the next chapter in their lives, upper school. We spend this first year of their high school life with them, a tumultuous year in their changing lives.  Remi can handle the bullying that goes with their friendship, Leo cannot. He changes. Quite suddenly, he outwardly rejects Remi. What happens next is devastating to us all. It's doubly devastated as we watch Leo carry this burden of guilt. The brilliant use of Emilie Dequenne as Remi's mother Sophie, an emotional control point, by director Lukas Dhont gives, CLOSE the ending it deserves.   

This is a deeply moving film from Belgium. A film tipped as having every chance to take out the prized International Film gong at this year's Oscars. Eden Dambrine as Leo, a boy never out of frame. He is thirteen, the same age as as his character depiction. The Irish, Oostende and Seville Academy's, all recognised him to be the best actor at their respective festivals. I'm surprised The Academy does not have him anywhere on their lists. I rank his performance along with Catherine Clinch's as Cait in THE QUIET GIRL. He is stunningly good.  11GUMS.

    

  

No. 16 (2023) TO LESLIE March. 4th.

 

Film No. 16  (2023)  March 4th.  10:40 AM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 1,   Leederville.

"I don't know; maybe buy a house, buy something nice, buy somethging for my boy, I don't know, just have a better life" (Leslie responds to a reporter's question about what she might do with her lottery winnings).

WINNER : BEST FEATURE (Michael Morris); Capri, Hollywood Festival 2022. NOMINEE : BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (Andrea Riseborough) Academy Awards 2023.

Are you after a film to put you through the wringer? A wringer so tightly bound that you might find yourself looking at the screen through your fingers?  But one where ultimately, (after the squeeze that TO LESLIE has put you through) there is hope? More hope than you could ever have imagined considering the early scenes.

It's a shame that so much of the publicity surrounding TO LESLIE is wrapped up in the ructions relating to Andrea Riseborough's nomination as best actor in a lead female role by The Academy.  Forget the ruckus, Riseborough's performance is of the highest quality. She holds her audience in her hand with such assurity, the film could have slipped into a cliché of "yeah sure, that's a bit convenient!" 

The realistic approach to this shoot has it's roots in Ryan Binaco's screenplay. While Binaco has not spoken publicly about his life with his mother, he has based the story on his experiences as the son of an alcohol dependent loved one. In the hands of director Michael Morris the film pushes our empathetic response, our "fear the worst" then "ultimate hope" buttons with perfect timing. And while we only want the best for Leslie, and maybe there is a convenience to the concluding stages, we never quite know where we might finish up. It clicks, the film works on all levels. 

But perhaps mostly, when it comes to the satisfaction TO LESLIE brings, the character Sweeney brings those sweet moments. He is the character who controls the compassion sensor.  Marc Maron (RESPECT, WORTH) plays the reluctant motel manger who offers Leslie a chance when her life is surely broken beyond repair. Maron and Morris (BETTER CALL SAUL) come to this film from mainly T.V. work.  Quality T.V. work. I hope TO LESLIE leads to more big screen work for them both.   10GUMS.

 

No. 15 (2023) LIVING March. 3rd.

 

Film No. 15  (2023)  March 3rd.  11:45 AM BACKLOT Cinema, West Perth W.A.

"From when I was a child, what I wanted, was to be a gentleman" (Mr Williams confesses to Miss Harris the reasons he has lived a restrained life).

NOMINEE : Best Actor (Bill Nighy), Best Adapted Screenplay (Kazuo Ishiguro) Academy Awards USA.

This old fashioned film depicting conservative Britain through the eyes of public servant Mr Williams, is steeped in beauty. 1953 is the year, and  we meet  Mr Wakeling (Alex Sharpe) a young man about to embark on his own public service career. With the right mentoring, could he be the clone of the near retiring, Mr Williams? What, with the posturing, the pen pushing and, ultimately controlling the amount of red-tape a proposed project could be wrapped in. But in this case, he might be lucky. He arrives at a time when Mr Williams is forced to face his own mortality. Bill Nighy brings Williams into a world of knowing what it is like to be living. Wakeling may just have met Willaims at the right time of his life.

Akira Kurosawa's IKIRU (To Live) is a masterpiece of Japanese Cinema. I've not seen it so I can't compare the two. I can however appreciate that the story has its roots embedded in conservative, regimented society. The stuffy British working middle-class setting surely complements a stoic Japanese model. Kurosawa might surely approve of this British version. We commemorate 25 years this year since his passing.   

Nighy's depiction of Mr W is the blueprint for post-war Britain. The suit, the bowler hat, the umbrella. He leads a team of crusty public servants. They are a version of Williams. Middleton (Adrian Rawlins), Hart (Oliver Charis) and Rusbridger (Herbert Burton) they set the standard for why the wheels turn so slowly in government business. Only Harris (Aimee Lou Wood) and Wakeling are from the generation to question the absurdity of their future in such an industry. So, when Williams receives the diagnosis that he is terminally ill, these young minds, particularly Harris, provide a chance to explore life, or what's left of it, but this time breaking his crusty past. 

How does he do this? Well, not in a way that cliché might ring true. No, he does it as a true gentleman should. He learns what being a gentleman might truly be. He does it with dignity and where a better future for others may flourish. 11GUMS.

   

 

  

No. 14 (2023) CHAMPIONS March. 1st.

 

Film No. 14  (2023)  March 1st.  6:45 PM  HOYTS VMAX, Cine 2   Karrinyup.

"Now I don't know if you are brave, or you're crazy but I do know this is your shot at the championship" (Coach Marcus addresses his charges during what could be their last game together).

Bobby Farrelly usually shares directing duties with brother Peter. Bobby goes alone here and it is a remake of the Spanish film CHAMPEONES. The themes and having access to Woody Harrelson (KINGPIN) certainly make for a typical Farrelly film. It is amusing and pleasant in so many ways. The PG rating will also be a bonus. There are plenty of themes families' can share thus adding to the momentum for a more tolerant society.

Lets face it, most are going to CHAMPIONS because they know what they will be getting. The genre is a crowd pleaser and the trailer, which is inundating screens as I type, pushes all the buttons to attract the crowd it requires. We've seen it all before. The blueprint for this version is a small Spanish film, CAMPIONES which took $30M  (budget of $10M). It's better than this U.S. (Canadian shot) Woody Harrelson lead re-make, but subtitles are a restrictor for many. I sense the real following for CHAMPIONS will come via its streaming release.

But, while milder in his approach, Farrelly, maintains his compassionate self (SHALLOW HALL, ME MYSELF AND IRENE) this time with themes of compassion and tolerance. Harrelson is lovable enough and Kaitlin Olson as the love interest and sister to Johnny, a key ingredient to the team, is endearing with a younger Jane Fonda look. 

CHAMPIONS is fun. You'll get what you pay for. And do they take the championship because they have completed the funny, silly, trumping small adversities together? Go see, it all in the cute, surprise ending. But like a burger in a soft, sweet bun, you'll remember little of what you have consumed within 30 minutes of placing your wrapper (ticket) in the bin.  8GUMS. 

        

                            

No. 13 (2023) SHACKLETON: THE GREATEST STORY OF SURVIVAL Feb. 25th.

 

Film No. 13 (2023)  February  25th.  11.00 AM   Cinema 5.  LUNA,  Leederville.

 

"We had suffered, starved and triumphed. We had seen God in his splendours. We had reached the naked soul of men". (The emotional words from Shackleton's diaries as he summed up his two years of inconceivable  endurance). 

Channel 4, the U.K. studio, so adept at adapting dramatic retells of significant historical events, created a mini series simply titled SHACKLETON, 20 years ago. It has been said that many people, who'd never heard of the great explorer, and who'd loved the mini series, thought it a wonderful piece of fiction. Who could blame them? Kenneth Branagh playing a leader (Shackleton) of 28 men and 69 dogs hellbent on crossing Antarctica via the South Pole, losing their ship in the crushing ice, having to shoot their dogs, enduring 8 seasons of this, and they all get home alive? That's got to be fiction, doesn't it?

Well no. And, as the title of this magnificent documentary suggests, perhaps the Shackleton expedition, which began in 1914 and ended in 1917, is the greatest story of survival ever told. There is not a shadow of doubt, if it weren't for the man, Sir Ernest Shackleton this story would not exist. Well it would, but it would be in the form of a tragic tale of 28 men and their misguided leader who adventured South and perished. 

Here, in SHACKLETON: THE GREATEST STORY OF SURVIVAL, Tim Jarvis leads us through this infamous journey. Jarvis is an environmentalist and explorer with amazing credentials. While the film is very much a reminder at what is happening to our warming planet, Jarvis uses the Shackleton story to reinforce themes of leadership, endurance, team work, comradery and ultimately survival, using film-making techniques which takes cinema engagement to a new level. 90 minutes in his care, where we experience, re-enactment, digital plotting, face to camera description (on location), the infamous Frank Hurley photographs and image overlay;  we leave the cinema inspired, but exhausted. 

This is an Australian production that has been in the making for years. Jarvis has made it something of a life's work. Considering his story, the re-enactment of some of the legs specific to this story, no one brings more creditability to the content. His story alone would be worth a film. He never shies away from the fact that this documentary is a comment on the planet and where it might be headed. Paralleling his message with a story so riveting, without over preaching, shows Jarvis to be a leader in the realms of Shackleton himself. Maybe, he just might save more than 28 lives, along the way.  11GUMS.