Bea says: Although the title of this film makes me snigger it's actually a very respectable 1950s film noir seen at the NFT, London South Bank last night. It was rather a late night for Cecil and me - the warm NFT theatre was pleasantly soporific after a walk through the cold from Victoria Station, and dinner on the way there. However, although I drifted off a bit in the first half hour I was soon gripped by the somewhat convoluted but always clear storyline: former valet to nobility is currently working as British ambassador's valet in Turkey during WW2. An impoverished and slightly shady past means he values money above all things, so photographs documents and sells them to the (bumbling) Nazis, until things heat up. There is a love interest of sorts too (his former employer's wife, the countess). Great performances, fantastic on-location cinematography, sharp humour. Very enjoyable.
Cecil says: Ah, the golden age of cinema: when dialogue ruled and lighting meant more than special effects. But check out the on-screen kisses: James Mason kisses the Countess with pursed lips, rather like I did with Debbie Kavanagh on my first date in Hull aged 14 (probably the censors wouldn't have allowed full-on tongues back in those early 1950s years). And some of the new technology was fantastic: the vacuum cleaner, for example, was key to the villain's undoing (and amazingly it looked like it was the very same model as the one used by both Bea's and my parents in the 1960s). Crucial to the denoument, however, was the money. Now, for those readers who don't know '5 Fingers' and don't want the end of the film to be ruined, I'd suggest you read no further...
Ah yes, the money: having seen the Counterfeiters only a few weeks earlier (and having typed our blog only the night before), the first thing I thought when I saw the large Sterling notes being paid by the Nazis to James Mason, was that they could be counterfeit. And that, my dear friends, was the final nail in the coffin of our villain's grand plan. But, if we hadn't seen the Counterfeiters we would never have thought of that as a possible outcome; and presumably to film goers in 1952 it also came as a great surprise (unless, of course, the Nazi counterfeiting in the War was more well known than we realise - but I'll leave other readers of this blog to post their thoughts on this...)
Rating: ***
Wednesday 19 December 2007
Sunday 16 December 2007
Counterfeiters
Bea says: We have been very remiss and not blogged sooner about this film, which we saw in October, in the Odeon Mezzanine, Leicester Square. This film tells the (true) story of a gifted and celebrated Russian Jewish counterfeiter, operating in Berlin prior to and during the early years of WW2. Inevitably, he is transported to concentration camps, and in one he is drafted to lead a special project - counterfeiting US and UK currency for the German war effort. The counterfeiters get special privileges (more food, beds, a somewhat more humane environment in comparison to what they can hear going on outside their space). Those in the counterfeiting team have different moral grounds - one wants to sabotage the project to prevent Germany being able to continue to finance the war. The central character does not have these strong feelings, but does engage in some delaying tactics. This rather harrowing film is about identity and survival in a terrible situation. It brought a few things I've heard and read about, the experience of being in a concentration camp alive - being deadened to the horror all around, and feeling absolutely nothing other than an incredible sense of fear every time a guard entered. I was wriggling anxiously in my seat and closing my eyes whenever this happened; but when characters were callously shot I felt very little.
Cecil says: very good film, but 2 months after seeing it, I struggle to remember much of the story. My overriding memory is of feeling nothing all the way through: no fear, no wincing at the violence, no disgust, no sadness, just nothing. And I was able to watch all the horrific scenes without emotion. Now, Cecil is an emotional young man so this must have been a very effective technique of the film-makers in depicting the survival techniques of those camp inmates.
Rating: ***.5
Cecil says: very good film, but 2 months after seeing it, I struggle to remember much of the story. My overriding memory is of feeling nothing all the way through: no fear, no wincing at the violence, no disgust, no sadness, just nothing. And I was able to watch all the horrific scenes without emotion. Now, Cecil is an emotional young man so this must have been a very effective technique of the film-makers in depicting the survival techniques of those camp inmates.
Rating: ***.5
Lions for Lambs
Bea says: Our last film seen on the film marathon in Paris at a small cinema in the Montparnasse area. We were tossing up between a Fassbinder and this one, and went for this one on the basis that we'd seen two fairly heavy films the previous day (see previous two posts for details). This wasn't a bad film, it's just that American mainstream stuff doesn't hold up well against high-quality low-budget European cinema. In my opinion. Again a story of 6 characters, 3 storylines (told by switching between stories), with some very big names and expensive digital effects. It was good to see Meryl Streep again (seems to have been a long time) but the role didn't stretch her, and both she and Robert Redford have done too much to their faces. This has really become a big bugbear for me in mainstream cinema - actors with "youthful", frozen faces. How can you act if you can't form a facial expression!? Tom Cruise was also limited by his role, and he is someone I generally think is hugely underrated and rarely given the opportunity to display his acting ability. I have thought this about him ever since I saw his performance in "Born on the Fourth of July", although maybe the credit there was due to Stone's direction. But I digress. A bit preachy (I was already converted), stretches credibility a bit, not bad.
Cecil says: Bea got herself so upset by the botox that she forgot the plot: what should we do about Iraq ?(we Americans, that is); should we commit ?(here it's personal and political and militarily); are journalists/politicians/teachers ethical? All good questions, but why does the American way of filming this sort of stuff just not speak to a European audience? I think the problem is that the film tries to convey a message rather than let the characters develop. And for all that the message was equivocal and challenging, to be honest, I'm more interested in the characters and how they approach things. For me, the Robert Redford (tutor) dialogue with his (almost drop-out, but privileged) student was most interesting; the former Redford students, now committed and out in Afghanistan fighting, the least plausible and least interesting (why should I care that one of them is faster at hand-slapping game??); the journalist/senator dialogue was way too long (and, of course, the one with the biggest questions - and message) but even there, the characters didn't really shine through. For all my criticism, it wasn't a bad film - botox or not, I think Redford ages well (and still acts well); Bea is right: Streep is not challenged by this role. But the acting was good and the story-line gripping enough to keep me interested throughout.
Rating: ***
Cecil says: Bea got herself so upset by the botox that she forgot the plot: what should we do about Iraq ?(we Americans, that is); should we commit ?(here it's personal and political and militarily); are journalists/politicians/teachers ethical? All good questions, but why does the American way of filming this sort of stuff just not speak to a European audience? I think the problem is that the film tries to convey a message rather than let the characters develop. And for all that the message was equivocal and challenging, to be honest, I'm more interested in the characters and how they approach things. For me, the Robert Redford (tutor) dialogue with his (almost drop-out, but privileged) student was most interesting; the former Redford students, now committed and out in Afghanistan fighting, the least plausible and least interesting (why should I care that one of them is faster at hand-slapping game??); the journalist/senator dialogue was way too long (and, of course, the one with the biggest questions - and message) but even there, the characters didn't really shine through. For all my criticism, it wasn't a bad film - botox or not, I think Redford ages well (and still acts well); Bea is right: Streep is not challenged by this role. But the acting was good and the story-line gripping enough to keep me interested throughout.
Rating: ***
Auf der anderen Seite (The Edge of Heaven)
Cecil says: The best film I have seen in years. Wonderful characterisation, thought-provoking, atmospheric - so reminiscent of those 1980s movies you don't see anymore: you know, the road movie, the films that make you really assess where you are in life...
Six main characters; 3 main relationships: elderly Turkish man living in Germany and his young academic son, Turkish/German, who needs to go back to Turkey and reconnect; young Turkish woman and young German woman; same young German woman and her mother (the fantastic Hanna Schygulla - though it was Bea, not me, who recognised her). The 6th person is the mother of the young Turkish woman and she hitches up for a while with old Turkish man.
All about inter-connections, cross-cultural replationships, self-discovery. Same old, same old, you might say, but it does not feel the same as other films of that genre. Totally engrossing, moving. So many scenes were evocative of personal experience: chance encounters that can change your life, the safe haven of a familiar bookshop in a foreign land, staring out to sea and contemplating life, grief, remorse, the befriending of political activists from another country. Oh, and another big question raised by this film: where CAN you buy those very handy cherry stone extractors???
Bea says: Quite by accident Cecil and I have in common that we both love German cinema circa 1970s and 80s. Neither of us knew that this film would be so evocative of this era (although completely set in the present day), and the film's big themes and the inclusion of Schygulla is surely a conscious nod to Germany's relatively recent film-making past, with an interesting cultural twist as the film is also about concepts like the meaning of home, migration, language and cultural belonging/not belonging.
During this weekend in Paris, Cecil and I began to wonder if 6 is a magic number for characters in films; but out of all the films we saw, this one was most interested in character and character development. Much, much more than just a "finding yourself" film, it explored how the self changes at any age during key turning points in life. Told in the triptych format it explored similar events from different perspectives, a narrative device that really worked for this film, and for me. Hanna Schygulla's performance was outstanding, and really put every other piece of acting I saw this weekend in the shade. A master at work.
Much much more to say - these are just a few of my highlights of this film.
Rating *****
Six main characters; 3 main relationships: elderly Turkish man living in Germany and his young academic son, Turkish/German, who needs to go back to Turkey and reconnect; young Turkish woman and young German woman; same young German woman and her mother (the fantastic Hanna Schygulla - though it was Bea, not me, who recognised her). The 6th person is the mother of the young Turkish woman and she hitches up for a while with old Turkish man.
All about inter-connections, cross-cultural replationships, self-discovery. Same old, same old, you might say, but it does not feel the same as other films of that genre. Totally engrossing, moving. So many scenes were evocative of personal experience: chance encounters that can change your life, the safe haven of a familiar bookshop in a foreign land, staring out to sea and contemplating life, grief, remorse, the befriending of political activists from another country. Oh, and another big question raised by this film: where CAN you buy those very handy cherry stone extractors???
Bea says: Quite by accident Cecil and I have in common that we both love German cinema circa 1970s and 80s. Neither of us knew that this film would be so evocative of this era (although completely set in the present day), and the film's big themes and the inclusion of Schygulla is surely a conscious nod to Germany's relatively recent film-making past, with an interesting cultural twist as the film is also about concepts like the meaning of home, migration, language and cultural belonging/not belonging.
During this weekend in Paris, Cecil and I began to wonder if 6 is a magic number for characters in films; but out of all the films we saw, this one was most interested in character and character development. Much, much more than just a "finding yourself" film, it explored how the self changes at any age during key turning points in life. Told in the triptych format it explored similar events from different perspectives, a narrative device that really worked for this film, and for me. Hanna Schygulla's performance was outstanding, and really put every other piece of acting I saw this weekend in the shade. A master at work.
Much much more to say - these are just a few of my highlights of this film.
Rating *****
Boarding Gate
Bea says: Seen during a marathon movie weekend in Paris, at a cinema near Chateau d'Eau. Entering the cinema, I noticed that the back few rows consisted of men in macs. Hmmm. 10 minutes into the film the lead female was engaged in some interesting self massage, for want of a better expression. Cecil and I exchanged glances. Had we wandered into a porn film by mistake? It hadn't sounded like it in Pariscope! After that though the film picked up its thriller genre. A strong, well constructed plot kept my attention throughout, despite some slightly cardboard-y acting from the male lead in particular. Always a good change to watch a film with a female lead, particuarly a thriller/action film - it rarely happens, and certainly rarely happens well. Particularly liked the scenes of the flight to Hong Kong, and action in Hong Kong; so well done I felt like I was there.
Cecil says: About 10 of us in the cinema and, until 10 minutes into the film, Bea was the only woman in the room. It was really a thriller (in the dramatic sense rather than sexual - though there were some very sensual moments, mixed with weird power games - you were never quite sure who was playing a game with who) - but a very European thriller: no special effects, hand-held camera throughout giving you the feeling of chaos, turbulence; very little soundtrack, the atmosphere created by the engine noise, machinery noise, crowd noise. The plot: over-the-hill businessman/fraudster wants to end his underworld life and go straight; he'd also like to hook up again with his ex-girlfriend, who is the central character we follow around the world as she tries to get away from 'events'. The end leaves the viewer with a lot of questions and, as we walked out into the Chateau d'Eau streets, an uneasy feeling that this part of Paris could very well be the scene of similar plots as we had just witnessed on the screen...If you're in Paris, best seen in a seedy area rather than the Champs Elysees.
Rating: ***.5
Cecil says: About 10 of us in the cinema and, until 10 minutes into the film, Bea was the only woman in the room. It was really a thriller (in the dramatic sense rather than sexual - though there were some very sensual moments, mixed with weird power games - you were never quite sure who was playing a game with who) - but a very European thriller: no special effects, hand-held camera throughout giving you the feeling of chaos, turbulence; very little soundtrack, the atmosphere created by the engine noise, machinery noise, crowd noise. The plot: over-the-hill businessman/fraudster wants to end his underworld life and go straight; he'd also like to hook up again with his ex-girlfriend, who is the central character we follow around the world as she tries to get away from 'events'. The end leaves the viewer with a lot of questions and, as we walked out into the Chateau d'Eau streets, an uneasy feeling that this part of Paris could very well be the scene of similar plots as we had just witnessed on the screen...If you're in Paris, best seen in a seedy area rather than the Champs Elysees.
Rating: ***.5
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