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| Sentimental romcom |
ELIZABETHTOWN Directed by Cameron Crowe
Certificate 12A
FIRECTOR and writer Cameron (Almost Famous) Crowe’s outing
heads into almost unbearably tough country with ease.
Connecting with all the really important things in life, this romantic
comedy – set mostly in small-town Kentucky – stars Orlando
Bloom as Drew Baylor, a shoe designer whose bad luck can’t
get much worse.
He loses his job in spectacular fashion and he must also contend
with a family rupturing upon the unexpected death of his beloved
father.
The funeral involves a long flight back to the deep south whereupon,
because it is a Cameron Crowe movie, he meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten
Dunst, pictured) an effervescent stewardess with life-impacting
style.
Her glee meets his gloom and the two click – if only they knew
it.
This is a screwball comedy with a high content of American sentimentality
which, given Drew’s circumstances, is forgivable and maybe
even necessary.
Ultimately, Elizabethtown is an ode to life’s silver linings.
It is an emotionally-intelligent drama that allows us to flinch
away from pain only a few times until we see that pain itself may
be taking us somewhere better.
Some may find this a disappointing outing for the director who has
promised so much but the sentiment displayed within every line of
Elizabethtown is unmistakably upbeat.
This is a film that affirms life, despite the promise of death,
beyond the impossibility of enduring romance and far away from the
cloying nature of the typical dysfunctional family.
Meet the Grimms
THE BROTHERS GRIMM Directed by Terry Gilliam
Certificate 12A
WITH the adorable tagline, ‘Eliminating Evil Since 1812,’
director Terry Gilliam ploughs headlong into an expectedly detail-rich,
humour-infested, rousing tale of the men who brought fairytales
to the masses.
In Gilliam’s universe, the Grimms were brothers and conmen
both, travelling around the country taking money from simple folk
who believed the duo could rid places of spirits.
Of course, in Gilliam films, what is at first false must become
true – and so it is no surprise that the brothers are soon
in a situation where they not only fall in love but also into danger
from supernatural forces.
With this film, you get everything you’d wish from a movie
about fairytales – wicked witches, spells, enchantments, magic
wells, tricks and laughs.
You also get some genuinely terrifying images such as a village
boy whose face virtually disappears, even though he is still very
much alive. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger (pictured) are the Grimms;
and you don’t need to be a fan to enjoy the rapport between
the two stars.
They joke and play against each other with a joy and energy that
could have saved any film. Alas for Gilliam, their energy –
and a brilliant additional cast – is not enough.
The Brothers Grimm from its very outset seems as if it was cobbled
together in post-production: it feels cut and pasted together with
a sense of haste.
Also, the audience is plunged directly into this complicated, fast-paced
tale with little warning or backstory. Gilliam, this time not working
from his own script, has, it seems, lost his way somewhere in the
telling of this otherwise masterful, richly hewn tale of fun and
derring-do. Peter Stormare, Jonathan Pryce and Lena Headley shine
through and match the leads for energy and style. The Brothers Grimm
is complicated, somewhat hard to follow fun but fun all the same.
And Gilliam gets his Napoleon references in there, even if he has
to use a shoehorn.
Also showing
Murderball |
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Director Jacques Audiard’s remake of ‘Fingers’ is
a brilliant tour de force of content and style – illuminating
the story of a Parisian man (immaculately dressed Thomas Seyr played
by Romaikn Duris) who tries to trade a life of crime for a life
of art. Heart-stoppingly good, this is a film of rare subtle power.
Murderball
An alarmingly good (read exciting and brutal) documentary about
North American quadriplegic wheelchair rugby – also known as
‘murderball’.
Outside of the action of the sport itself, this documentary by Henry
Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro offers the audience a unique look
at what “disabled” life can be like. A must-see.
Pick of the indies
Black Orpheus
Revisiting a hit of almost 50 years ago can give moviegoers of any
age something new to think about – and watching Black Orpheus
on the big screen is a prime example of a film that should be watched
at least several times throughout one’s life.
Based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, this award-winner – applauded
at Cannes where it won the Palme D’or and again at the Academy
Awards where it took the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film –
is a hauntingly beautiful take on Brazil.
In fact, this film may singlehandedly account for how we think of
Brazil in general, football and the girl from Ipanema aside.
Directed by Albert Camus’s brother Marcel, it tells of Orpheus
(Breno Mello) who falls for Eurydice (Marpess Dawn) whom he seduces
through music.
With a fantastic soundtrack and the use of non-actors, this is a
show of style and colour.
Don’t expect a lot of social commentary and you'll be transported
back to Brazil before City Of God – a gorgeous Techniclour
sweep of of a city in full flood of feeling.
There are some elements which may feel hamfisted to us now –
clichéd images of death, etc – but on the whole Black
Orpheus is a reigning king of the image of Brazil in its strongest
festival mode.
A brilliant, delightful and now classical look at a country's partying
past.
BFI: 020 7255 14444.
ICA: 020 7930 3647.
Tate Modern: 020 7887 8888. |
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