The United States of Leland (2003)

I was curious to see this film which was made in 2003, but not released I think until 2004, since I had read so many conflicting reviews -- ranging from drab and depressing to brilliant.  Of course it was something in the middle, worth a watch for the depth of the acting by a very able cast, but ultimately the polar opposite of a feel-good movie.  Told in a non-linear fashion casually moving back and forth from the past to the present with disturbing frequency, it tells of a 15-year old boy played by Ryan Gosling, from a broken family and distressed by being dumped by his love interest (Jena Malone), who is arrested for murdering her sweet mentally-handicapped young brother.  A teacher at Juvenile Hall played by the always professional Don Cheadle senses the makings of a best-selling book and tries to shed light on Gosling's motives which are never made particularly clear.  He begins to feel close to the articulate youth and perhaps really wishes to help him despite the fact that an act, however evil, can never be satisfactorily undone.  The cast is fleshed out by Kevin Spacey and Lena Olin as his strange and estranged parents, Martin Donovan as the murdered boy's father, Michelle Williams as another daughter of his family, and Chris Klein as her boyfriend who is living with them after his own mother's death.   Despite the high standard of acting from all of the cast, it was more than a little difficult to accept the then 23-year old Gosling and the then 24-year old Klein as believable juveniles, which -- as it happens -- was essential for the film's sad, sad outcome.  

Films on TV this Christmas

Being angry is hardly a good start, but of the films premiering this year, there is hardly anything that I have not already seen.  Probably it's just as well, since with a houseful of company, my viewing hours will be numbered anyhow, although it would be nice to be able to look forward to something that I really, really want to see when the debris clears.  So my recommendations are for less obsessive viewers and I shall concentrate on the premiere showings, although an unfortunate number of these are not worth your time and chances are that you have already seen the better ones at the cinema or on DVD.

Starting with terrestrial TV, my picks would be "Calendar Girls" (BBC on the 24th), "Monsters Inc." (BBC on the 25th), "Pirates of the Caribbean" (BBC on the 26th), the devastating Brazilian movie "City of God" (Channel 4 on the 27th), the best of the lot: "Spirited Away" (BBC2 on the 30th), and the clever "Adaptation" (Channel 5 on the 31st).  Also-ran choices would include "Holes" (BBC on the 28th) -- an offbeat children's tale, "Mrs. Henderson Presents" (BBC on the 29th) -- worth seeing for the Dench/Hoskins interplay, and if you would like to see what all the fuss is about "High School Musical" (BBC on the 29th).  If you're looking for older films that haven't been shown umpteen times in  recent years, you will look in vain, although it is worth noting that the B-series of Falcon movies can be found on BBC2 in the late, late hours daily.

The choice on satellite is even more limited, since Sky seem to think that all their new customers will be happy with the same selection they have been showing all year and that they can be fobbed off with limited premieres.  The best of these are "The Chronicles of Narnia" on Christmas Day, "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" on New Years Eve, and the Peter Jackson "King Kong" on New Year's Day.   The best things in the Sky schedules can in fact be found on Cinema 1 and Cinema 2 this coming weekend (16-18 Dec.) when they are showing a selection of Harold Lloyd shorts and features, all worth seeking out.  Further afield, keep on eye on the Discovery Channel which has scheduled a number of showings for the recently-released Herzog documentary "Grizzly Man".  You are better served finding classic movies on satellite if you check out the schedules on Sky Cinema, TCM, and to a lesser extent FilmFour.  The best Christmas classic showing is the original "Miracle on 34th Street" (Sky Cinema on the 24th) and worth 90 minutes of anyone's time to put you in the Christmas mood.

For once the schedules are light on compilation programmes this year; last year we were inundated with them.  But one of the few things I am looking forward to is the AFI's "100 Years, 100 Cheers" on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve.

Have a merry one everybody and if you would like my opinion on anything else that is showing (film-wise that is), please feel free to e-mail me.  

Passion of Mind (2000)

It has taken some six years for this Demi Moore film to find its way to television.  It sank without much trace on its release and was the beginning of the end for her as a major screen presence, but it is not really as bad as you might think or as stupid as the storyline appears.  Basically Moore plays two parallel roles: a young American widow with two children living in France and a single publishing executive in New York.  Each life only appears in the dreams of the other character and, while we assume that Moore is not a nutcase, we can only guess which is her real life.  Into each scenario comes a potential love interest -- Stellan Skarsgard in France, William Fichtner in New York -- but only one of them can really exist!  The viewer is not left with these paradoxes and a feasible solution is presented.  The fact that this answer wipes out the more appealing characters is, I suppose, unfortunate.  An interesting premise, reasonably well-acted, but with the overall feel of a made-for-television movie (which it wasn't).

Tomorrow, if I can make the time, I shall let you have my recommendations for films worth watching on UK television over Christmas.  But I warn you now, it is fairly thin pickings.

Deja Vu (2006)

I saw director Tony Scott's previous effort "Domino" recently and hated it so much that I couldn't be bothered reviewing it.  That supposedly true story  starring Keira Knightley as a bounty hunter was so flashily put together that it came across as all flash and no substance.  I therefore had no high hopes for the preview of his latest release, but it was a truly nifty thriller, despite some very dubious premises.  Denzel Washington is the government ATF agent assisting the FBI team investigating the terrorist assault on a New Orleans ferry which killed over 500 men, women and children.  They have developed a technique of studying live surveillance footage some four days in arrears and we get involved in accepting that time travel is not only possible, but that the future can in fact be changed.  This is where this Jerry Bruckheimer action extravaganza gets a little intellectually unlikely, but the movie is none the worse for such impertinences.  It's one thing to fall in love with a dead woman; it is quite another to prevent her death after having attended her funeral!  All very entertaining and professionally handled, just don't try to work out the logic of it all.

Surviving Christmas (2004)

Oh they do keep churning them out -- those seasonal movies intended to instil a feel-good holiday spirit; and the harder they try, the less they seem to work.  In this one, obnoxious millionaire Ben Affleck tries to buy himself a family Christmas by returning to his childhood home and bribing the current occupants to play Mommy and Daddy in exchange for a great wad of cash.  The reluctant role-players are Catherine O'Hara and James Gandolfini who are expected to provide all the Christmas experiences he never actually had as a child, including a grandfather figure call Doo-dah.  Cue for general nausea in the viewer!  Along with their computer-porn obsessed teenaged son and visiting, sceptical older daughter played by Christine Applegate, he manages to just about ruin both their holiday and that of his would-be girlfriend and in-laws -- all of course before the expected, but 100% unlikely, happy ending.  The critics hated this picture, primarily for Ben Affleck.  I do not agree that he is the great Woodentop that people make out; I just think he is a reasonably able actor who has made some spectacularly bad role choices.  (I will be most curious to see his latest picture "Hollywoodland" for which he actually got a best actor nod in Cannes).  But back to this film: the real problem was that none of the cast were overly adept at playing comedy here, despite O'Hara and Applegate having suitable credentials.  Fortunately there were the occasional felicities which at least prevented my switching off in total disgust.

Los Debutantes (2003)

I can't say that I've seen many Chilean movies, at least not knowingly, and this look at the seedy underworld in Santiago was not likely to make me seek out others.  I gather that it took the director some seven years to complete, which may account for its rather fragmented composition.  Two brothers leave their small town for the big city on the death of their parents, with the elder taking on the father role for his 17-year old sibling, including trying to get him to shed his virginity, unsuccessfully we are led to believe.  Both of them become involved with a sexy stripper who is also the squeeze of a local crime boss for whom the elder works.  The younger has a besotted but relatively innocent relationship with her, but she in turn has no qualms at seducing his brother while Mr. Big is away on business.  This three-way relationship with the girl is told and retold from various points of view without particularly revealing anything new in the telling.  Mind you, watching her party piece act dressed  in a bikini made only of whipped cream is something that one doesn't see every day.  Or want to!

Uzak (Distant) (2002)

Some directors are so minimalist and slow, that watching their well-thought of films is something that I find painful.  In particular I am thinking of the Hungarian director Bela Tarr whose downbeat films are also exceptionally long and the Taiwanese director Ming-Liang Tsai whose films affect me like Chinese water torture.  Add to these two the name of Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan who is responsible for this film.  Perhaps I am really missing something, but the draggy story of the unemployed country cousin coming to the big city to look for work and staying with his older and now successful cousin was without a great deal of development or interest.  Yes, they are a mismatched pair and family loyalties fall victim ultimately to the disgust of having an unwelcome visitor.  Their individual stories are only sketchily filled out and neither is particularly "grabby".  Apparently the younger actor died in a car crash shortly after the film was finished and was posthumously awarded best actor jointly with his co-star at Cannes in 2003.  I was not really aware of any "acting" going on, and please don't tell me that this is the true sign of good acting.  It was all too boring for that.

Our America (2002)

It is something of a burden to feel obliged to watch any and all films that I do not know and that pass my way, but this made-for-cable dramatized version of a true story was vaguely interesting, albeit extremely "worthy" -- there's that word again!  A white producer at a Chicago radio station chooses two black teenaged friends from the ghetto to tape a documentary on their day-to-day life; this controversially becomes a talking point among certain bleeding hearts who claim that the boys are being "used" by the white establishment, who are only interested in the downside of life in the projects.   However, ultimately their accurate portrayal wins numerous awards.  They next seek to expose the facts behind a horrible local murder, where two ten year-olds are tried for throwing a five-year old from a 14th floor window.   The boys reckoned it was all a terrible accident.  This dramatization was, I supposed, meant to embody a sense of hope insofar as the two youths are now journalists; however that in no way compensates for the deadbeat future and early deaths of many of their contemporaries which was depicted.

Must Love Dogs (2005)

In complete contrast to the well-made but deeply disturbing Amin film I saw yesterday morning, this piece of disposable fluff made a welcome change.  It helps that Diane Lane and John Cusack are two of the more appealing potential leads for a movie (unless one is a teenager); their search for new partners after messy divorces could have only one happy outcome here after overcoming various obstacles.  While I would have preferred a slightly sharper script, it was nice to view a movie that admitted that there is life after forty.  The picture was blessed with an attractive supporting cast, with the possible exception of Dermot Mulroney as Cusack's love rival, and the doggies were also good value.  Sometimes an unmessage-laden subject and a complete lack of special effects is just what the doctor ordered to ensure a good night's sleep.

The Last King of Scotland (2006)

This movie kicked off this year's London Film Festival but, much as I like the actor Forest Whitaker, I didn't go to see it before this preview showing.  And he was absolutely stupendous playing Idi Amin, although I would be pleasantly surprised if this showcase resulted in an Oscar nomination for him.  He really became a believable monster Amin, but he was if anything too good, and it was therefore too unpleasant a characterization to win many hearts.  In fact nearly none of the characters on display were particularly likeable, so although one could admire director and documentarian Kevin Macdonald's first feature film, it was not really a movie that one could warm to.  The real focus of the story was Amin's (fictional) Scottish doctor, played by James McAvoy who is this month's 'next big thing'; running away from the prospect of being a family doctor at home with his doctor dad, he lands up in Uganda where he is flattered by Amin's attentions and manages to turn a blind eye to reality, until it is nearly to late to save his soul.  The two hour length did not drag, but one was left with something of a bitter taste by this onslaught of uncomfortable facts and behaviour. I should mention that there was a small role towards the start for a now nearly unrecognizable Gillian Anderson; while it was good to see her back on the screen, this section added little to the tale, except to reinforce what a callow prat the McAvoy character was.

The Farmer's Wife (1928)

It's not every day that I get to view an unknown Hitchcock, so on that level this British silent was something of a treat.  There is little to link this bucolic comedy with the director who came to be known as the Master of Suspense, other than his even then evident artistic eye and his playful nature.  The story concerns a prosperous farmer whose wife has died and who decides it is time for him to wed again.  His faithful and let it be said very attractive housekeeper is the obvious choice, but apparently not obvious enough to the poor dolt.  Instead he presents himself to four highly unsuitable local females, thinking that they will jump at the opportunity, only to find himself spurned for various reasons -- they are either too independent or too afraid of sex or consider themselves too young for him.  Of course the viewer knows where this will lead, but it takes the farmer the course of the movie to find out.  In the meantime we join him in his amusing quest with the local gentry and bumpkins.  The version I saw ran 97 minutes, but I understand that a 127 minute print exists; I can't for the life of me guess how they could expand this already-thin story. 

School of the Holy Beast (1974)

This was the last of the four films selected from the NFT's "Wild Japan" season and after viewing it, I asked myself whatever possessed me to choose it.  Well the answer is to be found in the season's programme which overhyped this film as one of the most outrageous in cinema history and "way beyond wild".   The more accurate description I can report to you comes from the film notes which describes it as 'the mother superior of all Nipponese nudie nun extravaganzas'!  Yes, you are reading that correctly; I now know that softcore Catholic nun movies were a busy subgenre of Japanese exploitation films in the '70s.  Our heroine spends her last day before entering a convent where 'women aren't women' drinking and clubbing and going to bed with a pick-up.  Ostensibly she is out to find the truth of her mother's death at her birth 18 years earlier, but not before she discovers that the convent is a hotbed of lesbianism, self-flagellation, sexual explotation by a Rasputin-like priest, and countless topess shots of the nuns.  Some of the imagery is amazing, such as our heroine being punished by being trussed up with long brambles and being beaten by bouquets of roses, but the overall story as she seeks justice for the harm done to her mother, who was also a nun, is completely over the top.  OK, the gory retribution paid by the worst culprits is satisfying, but this is the sort of film that one hates oneself for even seeming to enjoy watching.