All is Lost
One (old) man on a boat.
A small boat.
And he doesn’t talk.
And [Spoiler] he loses the boat.
For one hour and forty minutes.
And he’s probably gonna die…
…from boredom.
At least that’s what I
thought, but I was wrong. All is Lost
was a wonderful surprise: exciting, compelling and as deep as the ocean. Not
Mariana Trench deep admittedly – but deep enough. The film begins with Our Man
(Robert Redford) waking up to find that his boat has hit a shipping container
and is taking on water fast. By the time he has a grip on things much of his
equipment is waterlogged. He is phlegmatic, practical and assured as he goes
about repairing the boat and considering his options. Then thing get really
bad! On one level it’s a paean to seafarers and, possibly, a type of rugged,
unemotional American as it delves into the psychology of a survivor trying
calmly, and desperately, to survive. But it transcends that basic narrative too,
firstly because it’s such an exciting, beautiful film and also because it
becomes a celebration of human beings’ indomitable will to grasp and struggle
for life.
Redford has never been the
greatest actor but he’s been a great and beautiful movie star. I wanted to be
him more than anyone else growing up – or the characters he played - because of
that run of movies starting in the 60s: Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The
Way We Were (1972 – not so great admittedly, but I fell for it anyway), The Sting (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975), All the President’s Men, (1976) and Out of Africa (1985). There are days, alas, when I wish I’d grown
up watching Tarkovsky but it was the great American films of the 70s that made
me and I know it. In All is Lost
Redford is 77 and not quite so beautiful any more but all the gestures and
movements are the same and he gives a fantastic performance. Throughout the
film though I couldn’t help but think of that serious, glamorous, younger man
who helped millions of men and women to yearn, dream and idealise. It’s not
just that you are forced to think about the passing of time and age – your own
and Redford’s - but you can’t help but think of all those complex
interconnections between stardom, fame, cinema, fantasy and meaning.
If you’re anything like me you’ll
be trying to remember how much of the world’s surface is ocean too. I’ll save
you looking it up – it’s 71%. That’s A LOT.
American Hustle
Some of my fondest
film memories are of comedies – probably, I think, because good comedies are so
rare. I remember laughing out loud at Crimes
and Misdemeanours and Rushmore (when
hardly anyone else in the cinema was), at The
Other Guys (when most were) and at 21
Jump Street, Youth in Revolt or (long, long ago) Some Like It Hot, Manhattan and The Pink Panther alone at home.
Best of all I can remember watching Young
Frankenstein, Airplane, and all
the old Steve Martin films with Helen and giggling uncontrollably. To that list I happily now add David O
Russell’s American Hustle. Not that
it’s perfect – it’s long, big and baggy. Sometimes you long for a little more
showing and a little less telling too – not that it EVER feels lifeless, but
you suspect that the whole project was a little rushed: the themes get laid out
a little too much in the dialogue rather than living and breathing through the
structure of the film. On one level that’s probably a little unfair – the
script in Silver Linings Playbook
and The Fighter was a huge part of
the magic and it crackles in Hustle
too, but it definitely lacks cohesion. What you get though is a bravura display
of acting magic and directorial fireworks and more than anything Hustle makes you understand the power
and attraction of stars. We already know about Jennifer Lawrence – the whole
world has been wowed and she is utterly brilliant again – if she hadn’t won the
Oscar for Best Actress last year she be nailed on for Supporting Actress this
time. But who would have thought Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper could be
THIS funny. Amy Adams, literally at the
centre of the film and Jeremy Renner get less chance for laughs but are,
nonetheless, astonishingly good. If structure and subtlety are somewhat
lacking, Russell’s camerawork and the editing enable you to inhabit the world
and see things from the viewpoints of the (largely) unsympathetic characters.
The soundtrack of 70s tracks is electric too and used beautifully to reinforce
the comedy and the irony. LOVED it!
Upstream Colour (and
a little rant and slight spoilers)
I read the Guardian
every day but sometimes it really does wind me up. I refer you to this
moronic bit of filler. If Cloud Atlas,
Elysium, Iron Man 3 and Star Trek: Into
Darkness are four of the best sci-fi and comic book movies of 2013 then I
need a brain and personality transplant ASAP. Ben Child starts the article by
worrying about the opportunities for Arthouse projects but argues that if there
is a “silver lining, it is that studios are getting better at making these
preposterously expensive, spectacle-heavy movies”. Really? REALLY! I realise
that my geek pretensions are crumbling but three of these films (Cloud Atlas tried – I’ll give it that)
wasted interesting ideas and turned everything in to brainless drivel.
Incidentally, Blomkamp also managed to inspire THE MOST DIRE performance from
Jodie Foster (and Sharlto Copley wasn’t much better).
Luckily, 2013 will be measured as a landmark
year because we got Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity
and Shane Carruth’s Upstream Colour.
Carruth’s film might not be considered sci-fi (definitions are so
difficult) but think about the first twenty minutes. A man has discovered that
maggots living on a particular plant have various mind-altering properties. He
tests it first by straining the maggots through fluids and giving the drink to
local youths. Next thing we see, he abducts a young woman and forces her to
swallow one of the maggots: she becomes little more than a childlike automaton and
what follows is one part Alien, one
part Philip K Dick, one part 2001
and one part David Cronenberg.
Admittedly that last line is there just to tempt all you geeks to watch
this amazing film because Carruth’s vision is unique, obtuse and not a little
difficult. Anyone that saw his only other film, Primer, will know what I mean. Critical opinion is mixed –some love
Upstream Colour (it came sixth on
the Sight and Sound best of 2013
poll), some think it monstrously pretentious and some think it derivative of
late Malick. I’d watch it first without knowing too much about it but if you
need convincing I’ll refer you to these two thoughtful
reviews.
I loved it on first viewing but second time round it blew me away. It’s about
how we invent and reinvent ourselves; how we invest our lives with meaning (or
fail to); about coming to terms with the meaningless of existence and much more
– all with parasitic worms! Better than that, it’s made with degrees of
vitality, creativity and oomph missing in most American film. In short it’s
fucking brilliant and I’m gonna have to rejig my ‘Best of 2013’ to somehow get
it in my top 5.
