The Legend of Ben Hall

Seen at the Gala Cinema in Warrawong, NSW

Bea says: I really enjoyed this tale about legendary bushranger Ben Hall, who I vaguely remember hearing about at school, as the "gentleman bushranger" and who was famously shot in the back by the troopers (Boo! Hiss!).  I have to admit that the film certainly took a romanticised view of bushrangering - although there were moments that gave the necessary jolt as to the potential violence they could use; the trooper who was shot outside the pub and a father of 8 children; the scene where Ben Hall torches the draper's shop.  I am sure it was terrifying to be waylaid by a bushranger on route between Sydney, Goulburn, the goldfields and Melbourne.

But I enjoyed the story's attempts to get inside the head of Ben Hall a bit - interestingly, it struck me that Ben's separation from his wife and resulting custody battle seemed strangely modern.  I also enjoyed the depictions of 1860s life in Australia, the beautiful scenery and the knitwear - I was thrilled to see the knitters credited for it at the end!

My main critique would be that the film is a bit derivative of the old Westerns in style - I thought of John Ford and Cecil did whisper Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to me at one point,,  I would like to see Australia finding its feet with a more individual style of cinema perhaps; thinking about The Man from Snowy River and Breaker Morant; were they as derivative as this film? (I would need to watch them again to know).

Jack Martin was also rather a dish!  A great bit of escapism.
***


Cecil says: I have mixed feelings about The Legend of Ben Hall. It's beautifully filmed in rural Australia and takes place in parts of New South Wales and Victoria that we know fairly well. But I felt it slightly overdid the romanticisation of a man who basically was a thief and a bit of a thug, no matter that he was the 'gentleman' bush ranger.

I did like the opening scene of the film, where they showed an original 19th century photograph of the man himself, with firm set jaw and unsmiling face, and then let the photo fade and the actual face of actor Jack Martin appear superimposed. The actor looks amazingly similar to the character.

I think we are supposed to empathise with the bush ranger who never killed anyone, who was shot in the back by trappers (uniformed police or soldiers of the time) and who was probably a cut above most of his contemporaries in intelligence. The thing is, call me conventional, but I actually didn't sympathise, and at each moment in the film when he almost gets caught, I found myself wanting them to get him to put an end to the misery he was causing lots of ordinary citizens of the time.

He may well have been idolised and fantasised about by lots of young women at the time, especially those in loveless marriages or with small town boredom as the only future visible for them, but again I'm afraid these characters just reminded me of the teenage girl hangers-on to school gangs in my own days; the kind of girls who egged their boys on to even nastier deeds against whoever their latest victim might be.

And my other problem with the film is that nobody's justification for whatever action they took came across as virtuous or seeking of justice, apart possibly for the hapless leader of the group who did finally track Hall down and stop him (hapless because none of his troops actually listened to his orders at the end).

So this certainly isn't a feel-good movie and I felt even more put out as my emotional pull seemed to run counter to the way I think the director was trying to push me. It's kind of how I feel when I watch Ken Loach films (and why I hesitate to go and see his latest by the way).

And yes, it did feel like Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. I know in that film we all felt warmth and love for the Paul Newman and Robert Redford characters, but they were probably as vicious as Ban Hall and his cronies at around the same period...

***

The Light Between Oceans

Seen at the Roxy Cinema in Nowra

Cecil says: Best film of 2016. A gripping story from the opening scene through to the final sunset. Be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster if you go to see The Light between Oceans: there is a beautiful romance to kick the film off, with wonderful connections between a hardened World War One veteran (superbly played by Michael Fassbender) and an apparently delicate young thing from a small Western Australian town (Alicia Vikander, who played in The Danish Girl, is wonderful here too); then Dostoevsky themes of Crime and Punishment, with dilemmas thrown in to compare with Sophie’s Choice.

There are so many levels to this film and I guess depending on your own life story it will resonate with key moments of your own journey.

Dilemmas over what to do when a loved one wants one thing and you know it is morally wrong; what to do when you are offered a way out but that would condemn your loved one to prison or even death; how to resolve that prick of conscience that can torment you after the act; how to forgive and not to resent.

The setting of the lighthouse on a small island off the west coast of Australia is utterly beautiful, too, though you can’t help feeling the small town attitudes cross that stretch of sea with their hatred of Germans after the war, their joy at the ‘new baby’, and the pure visibility of every family misfortune and drama that happens in or near the town.

The soundtrack is beautiful – a combination of music composed for the film and old mediaeval work by Tavener. The costumes are wonderful. Even the veggie patch looked a dream, though I had to wonder how they got the vegetables to grow so well in what must have been such salty air…

An all-star cast, with Rachel Weisz, Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson putting in just as polished a performance as the two main characters.

And you know what, I’d see it all again quite happily, just to see what other aspects of my life it may make me think about on a second viewing.

*****

Bea says:  I was in two minds about seeing this film as I knew enough about the storyline to expect it to be sad, and enough to know that the subject matter might be painful for me.  I had not read the book for the same reason.  However, the story – as all good stories are – is actually about larger, more universal truths, like forgiveness, one’s own moral compass, and the importance of relationships, and these truths transcend the immediate storyline.  Still, I did connect with Isabel’s early experience, and left the film thinking – as much as I shared her experience, I do not think I would have done that.  I didn’t think this judgmentally, just in a way that found my own moral compass point, and that was reassuring.  I liked the film’s focus on embracing forgiveness, renouncing resentment, doing what’s right, and remaining connected to people close to you.  These are things that matter in life, and that you can hold on to in the face of loss or grief.

But this is all about the (very strong) storyline – the performances were superb, particularly the wonderful Michael Fassbender as Tom.  I appreciated the direction; it’s rare these days for a film like this not to be overlong and drawn out.  The pace was very good, it lingered long enough to set the scene but not too long.  The settings were incredibly beautiful (Dunedin and North West Tasmania apparently – I can see some trips to those locations in the future!).  It was great to see those old stalwarts Jack Thompson and Bryan Brown in films again.  And as a knitter, the knitwear was great eye candy.

It was actually great escapism as well.  In a week full of the world’s problems, it was great to travel 100 years back in time and be absorbed in the fictional problems of fictional people.  As I said to Cecil on the way home, right now the thought of living on an isolated island lighthouse for 3 years seems rather appealing….

*****

The Girl on the Train

Seen at the Roxy Cinema in Nowra

Bea says:  I had heard a great deal about this deeply anticipated film prior to seeing it this past Sunday morning at the Roxy cinema in Nowra.  I had heard it reviewed on ABC’s The Mix, and on BBC’s Women’s Hour, and everybody seems to be talking about it.  So despite not having read the book, I roughly knew the story, and I knew some of the twists the plot might take.  I knew that the central characters were all flawed, that it was in the vein of Gone Girl, and that the setting had been moved from the UK to New York State for the purposes of the film.

The story did draw me in – I quite like a good thriller-style film, even though I could guess where it might be going, and in that regard it is a diverting film, beautifully shot in a picturesque location, and with strong performances from the cast.  They were lucky to get Emily Blunt for the lead – she played it very well indeed; in less assured hands it may have descending into cliché.

Because it was all rather derivative to be honest – a mash up of Fatal Attraction and Gone Girl, with reference to some classic film noir as well – Gaslight, for example.  What disappointed me from a female writer and a strong female production and direction team, was how stereotyped it all was. 

The women are anxious and neurotic.  The two women who can’t, or don’t, have children are presented with deep personal and psychological problems as a result.  Working is optional for women, it seems.  It was like something out of Mad Men.  

Thank goodness for Allison Janney’s police detective, the only vaguely liberated role model amongst them – and even she was told what to do at one point by her male colleague.  And yes the “truth” is unravelled, and a particular man gets his just desserts, but the message isn’t very feminist – the female characters only take control out of desperation, not out of good decision making.

Don’t expect anything creative or new – but it is diverting if you need an absorbing story for a couple of hours.

***

Cecil says: I also thought Emily Blunt played the drunk, hallucinating, traumatised train passenger well. Whoever did her makeup for the opening scenes and later did a great job making her look dry-lipped, gaunt and bleary-eyed. It takes a few scenes for us to realise her problem is drink, but she immediately hits the viewer as someone deeply troubled.

Opening scenes are always a key pointer to how a film will pan out for me, and the start of The Girl on the Train doesn’t disappoint. I didn’t recognise the small town on the banks of the Hudson, but the buildings along the track were classic hundred year old beauties, like those we spotted on our first weekend away in the States six years ago when we took a train that slowly crawled through Williamsburg.

I actually didn’t know this film was adapted from a book about a British story set around London. From all my commuting into London, it’s really hard to imagine how these wealthy middle class American characters were represented in the original book.

The story is certainly gripping, though the overall tone was a tad darker than I would have chosen for a bright spring morning. Blunt acts well, though there are times when you wonder if some twists are really based on reality: why didn’t she call cop Allison Janney earlier than the moment when he life was suddenly at risk? And I found it hard to imagine an experienced therapist letting himself get drawn into such an intimate and boundary-less relationship with one of his female clients.

Great also to see one of the less visible actors from Friends doing something different. Took me a double take to realise it was actually her…

***.5 

Ab Fab - The Movie

Seen at Nova, Gawler, South Australia

Bea says:  Cecil was absent for this one, which I saw with my sister at the lovely Nova cinema in Gawler, South Australia.  A glass of wine in the foyer beforehand and a bruschetta afterwards at the bustly Nova cafe rounded off the experience.

The film was silly and forgettable, but oh so funny, and a great tonic to the hard work and troubles of everyday life.  Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley as Edina and Patsy are up to their usual tricks trying to get new PR clients when they accidentally "kill" Kate Moss (starring as herself).  My favourite character from the original series, Julia Sawalha as Saffy, plays her usual great straight role and mayhem ensues until Kate turns up again.  Lots of cameos to spot and all in all a great night out.
** 1/2

Our Kind of Traitor

Seen at the Roxy Cinema in Nowra on NSW South Coast

Bea says:  We both like thrillers, and adaptations from John Le Carré's works are usually good and absorbing.  This is both, the time sped past as the twists and turns of the plot unfolded, even if it's darkness did make it feel more of a Friday/Saturday night film, rather than a Sunday morning one (when we went to see it).

The film centres on a couple, Perry and Gail, (Ewan Mcgregor and Naomi Harris) who are trying to reconnect via a luxurious European break following an infidelity.  This doesn't go particularly well, and after being left alone in a restaurant, Perry gets involved with a wealthy Russian and his family who are trying to leave behind their formerly criminal past and escape to the UK for safety and a new start.  Rather unbelievably, Perry agrees to help him.  Enter the secret service (Damien Lewis, playing Hector) and much action, adventure, internal politics and subterfuge as the secret service gets involved in smuggling the family to London.  Despite being university professors, Perry and Gail prove to remarkably adept at hiding out from criminals in pursuit of the family, handling weapons and sharp shooting.  But if all disbelief is suspended and you enjoy Bond/Jason Bourne style thrillers, you'll enjoy this one.

Diverting, somewhat unbelievable, but good performances all round.  Good to see Saskia Reeves again as well.
***


Cecil says: I'm not a big fan of films that give you a sense of foreboding right from the start, and don't let that feeling lift right to the end. I guess it is the nature of the thriller genre, but as Bea says, not great for a sunny Sunday morning...

I also felt somewhat dubious of some of the likelihood of some of this plot really happening: would even a guilt-ridden professor really let himself get drawn into some dodgy drinking mob of Russians in a posh restaurant? (that was one thing I was so glad I managed to avoid on our own recent trip through Russia as men are supposed to drink heartily with any fellow humans or you risk a social slap in the face, and vodka is the order of the day).

But really, it was obvious this group of Russians were up to something and I don't believe Perry would really have gone along with it, or gone to the party, or got himself drawn aside from some young beauty at the party (and what happened to that sub-plot, too? she never reappeared later in the film).

As for the UK Secret Service allowing amateurs like Perry and Gail to get involved in some major saga of potential defections and capture of murderous drug barons, it is highly highly dubious.

So as Bea says, you need to suspend your belief in large chunks for this one.

Gail is a senior barrister, apparently. But it would be interesting to see what the Bechtel viewers would have made of the women characters in this one. She plays a minor role supporting Perry and you kind of feel her job title was a modern creation to make up for Le Carré's 1960s attitudes to women.

Anyway, the film was OK. I'd give it a ***, but don't go and see it if the weather is nice outside and you have better things to do.

Florence Foster Jenkins

Seen at the wonderful cinema by the beach at Avoca Beach in NSW, Australia

Cecil says: We don't normally let such a long time lapse between watching a film and blogging but life and commitments got in the way of this blog big time in recent months.

We didn't really care what film we saw when we turned up at the beautiful little arthouse cinema in Avoca Beach. The idea was just to experience this lovely community cinema on a day outing along the NSW central coast.

Meryl Streep is always a great actress to watch, though I haven't enjoyed all of her films over the years and not being a great fan of operatic style singing, I wasn't too sure how I'd enjoy this depiction of a wealthy socialite in 1940s New York who can't sing but wants to appear as a diva on the main operatic stages of the East Coast.

Streep does a great job here; I gather she actually can sing, and I guess only a really talented singer would be able to mimic such bad singing so well. Otherwise they'd have had to cast someone as bad as Jenkins herself was in real life.

Actually the actor who stole this one - and got the most laughs out of me through the film - was Simon Helberg, who plays her wonderful accompanist. The guy knows it could ruin his career to be on the stage with someone who is so patently bad, but he sticks at it and takes the risk.

You get the sense that his motives were out of loyalty and - in part - affection for the lonely socialite Jenkins. Similarly, Hugh Grant, playing her partner/lover St Clair Bayfield, tries to the end to prevent her from going on stage, and then from seeing the media coverage of her performance to shelter her from the truth.

But the film, while giving a few good laughs for its comic storyline, is a melancholic tale too really. Surely, it would have been a lot easier and saved a lot of energy to tell the old fool how badly she sang early on, but then it would have both hurt her feelings terribly and deprived the boys in uniform of a thousand morale-boosting laughs at her expense.

I kind of enjoyed it, but it wasn't such a feel-good movie for a comedy.

***

Bea says: 
Cecil and I are both choral singers, although neither of us really follow operatic style singing, but we were in the right place, right time to see this latest effort from Streep, and singing does interest us, so we gave it a go.

Cecil is right - it has a melancholic turn, with the themes tackling dreams (and what happens if they are unrealistic), loneliness, the isolation of wealth, illness, marriage, loyalty and - for want of a better way of expressing it - being a good person.  Sometimes, I felt the film struggled to hold onto these higher level themes, and had to work to keep out of the realm of laughing at Jenkins - who absolutely did not deserve to be laughed at.  It had to walk a line between presenting Jenkins as an old fool, and presenting her as a flawed human being, like every one of us, who has a dream that we are a bit afraid of, but would love to do, and who has flawed people in our lives that we love.

Luckily, the film starred Streep who did the best she could in walking that line; Grant, who also did a fantastic job at portraying his character in more than a two dimensional way.  It was great to see Helberg move out of sitcom territory, and also show his skill at portraying the light and shade of life, as the impoverished accompanist afraid of the implications on his career, but committed to seeing it through.

I was also intrigued by the footnote at the end of the film - that Jenkins' recordings are the most borrowed from the sound archive of New York.  So she did achieve some kind of success, however we measure that, and whatever the reason for their frequent borrowing.  I left the film full of admiration for Jenkins, but it left a bittersweet taste.  A great antidote to reality TV talent shows. Watch this, instead of them.
***

The Daughter

Seen at the lovely Roxy Cinema in Nowra, NSW

Bea says: It was a great pleasure to see a film out of NSW, featuring Sam Neill and Geoffrey Rush.  It took me back to a time when Australian cinema was doing very well in the 1970s, 1980s and into the early 1990s, and seeing local films was a regular occurence; it is more of rarity now, sadly.

The Daughter was a gripping film with a strong plotline and character development.  It is dark, in mood, story and cinematography and the ending is unresolved.  I didn't know, until the final credits rolled, that it is based on Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck (which I have not read, although I have read other Ibsen works).  It made sense - the dark, wintry settings, the family dramas and self-destructiveness.

The film is shot around the NSW Highlands, and unlike a lot of Australian film, features a cool climate and I enjoyed that aspect of its difference to the usual cultural fodder of Australian life in the media (beach or outback).  Performances were strong, but I particularly enjoyed Sam Neill's perfectly low key portrayal of the daughter's grandfather.

The film explores the impact of social issues and class, and the meaning of family deeply, with much to discuss and reflect upon afterwards - it owes the depth to Ibsen probably, but has been very well translated into contemporary Australian life, so that has been well done by the producing, writing, directing and acting team.  The director, or writer, I believe was also responsible for Lantana, which Cecil and I saw on one of our first ever dates - also a fairly dark film!

Highly recommended, as both an experience and to support our film industry.
****

Cecil says: It's not the kind of film I'd usually choose to see on a warm Sunday Monday. As Bea says, it's not the cheeriest film, but it is a really good production.

It says a lot that my favourite pieces of acting actually came from two very powerful portrayals of grief at different points in the film's story: one from Geoffrey Rush and the other from the rather good teenage actress Odessa Young, who plays Hedvig rather marvellously.

Christian (played by Paul Schneider) is the most destructive character in the film. Everything he does seems to cause more turmoil and upset, and you are left at the end with the feeling that although he is the instigator of so many battles and traumas between various members of the family, he is the one who comes out of it unhealed, still angry and traumatised by the death of his mother many years ago.

The friendly usher on the way out of the cinema asked if we'd enjoyed the film, 'Enjoy' isn't really what you do with a film like this, but it was certainly thought-provoking and gave us lots to talk about on our 45 minute drive home afterwards.

I'm certainly glad I saw The Daughter but somehow it's a film that lends itself to coming out in the dark. The bright midday sun of an Australian autumn day just didn't feel right.

***.5

Youth

Seen at the Roxy Cinema in Nowra, NSW

Cecil says: I don't really like films with lots of weird, surreal dream sequences and I really can't stand films with a plot line that has lots of self-referential bits about the turmoil of what it means to make a film. Youth had lots of both running throughout, but just enough of a plot line to wake me up every now and then and keep me involved. 

A couple next to us left half way through and one of the group in front of us said at the end: 'well, that was the weirdest film I've ever seen.' They clearly never saw any Bresson films in the 1970s and 80s, though...

The couple who left missed the last scene, which was so moving and engrossing that it more than made up for the previous 90 minutes.

Michael Caine was brilliant throughout. Sure, he's aged, but he holds a part fantastically still, and portrayed the ageing process beautifully. He kept the film together, much more than Harvey Keitel ( though HK's role suffered in my eyes because his was the agonising film-maker part ). Jane Fonda gets a bit-part towards the end and performs it superbly, though without the impact someone like Vanessa Redgrave or Judy Dench can achieve in a couple of screen scenes.

The setting was weird: an exclusive spa that actually resembled at times a 19th century lunatic asylum; and I guess the idle and fading rich characters who stayed there are based on real people, but it's not really a world I can relate to.

 No, this film is worth seeing just for the final scene, and you probably can't shortcut straight to the last five minutes because clearly Youth does succeed in getting across how it feels to be retired maestro Berenger. Without that build up, the last sequence wouldn't have had the same impact. And wow, it was quite a finale, with heart-rendingly beautiful music, composed just for this film. Now to find the soundtrack...

Overall **.5

Final scene *****

Bea says: I liked this more than Cecil, but perhaps that was because it caught me in a more introspective frame of mind and the film matched my mood well - in addition it was very beautifully shot in Switzerland (or what was a good copy for Switzerland if filmed somewhere else), and as a long term music lover I absolutely loved the soundtrack (the responsibility of David Lang, who also did Requiem for a Dream).  

In that respect Youth reminded me of the film Elizabethtown, where the music had been so carefully and perfectly chosen for every moment, message and passing mood of the story.  It also made me really listen to the lyrics of the 90s hit You Got the Love (the opening track, performed by Swing Band as the Retrosettes) for the first time ever. 

The music added nostalgia to my mood, and that fitted for this film which was not really at all about youth, but instead about ageing, mortality and dying.  I guess that as the babyboomers age we are going to see more material like this.

Cecil, who despite not liking the film also liked the soundtrack, did a bit of research and told me a very interesting story about the film's award-winning original song Simple Song #3 - the lyrics were composed by what google offered as frequently searched items...a great example of how we place our own meanings onto song lyrics.

Caine was of course excellent. Despite his advancing age his delivery and timing were perfect.  I also really enjoyed Paul Dano's (Little Miss Sunshine) performance as the actor Jimmy Tree.

IMdB bills this film as a comedy - well, sort of, but I had tears in my eyes on more than one occasion, so a rather bittersweet one I'd say.

Things I didn't like?  Some of it was written from a rather stereotypical male perspective (Miss Universe getting into the spa naked in front of the ageing Caine and Keitel?  Perhaps supposed to be funny, but it was just rather bad taste and ogling to me).  Some of it is a bit self-indulgent (films about films and the rarified lives of those who make them; in this I agree with Cecil).

But worth a watch, perhaps best seen on a contemplative, rainy Sunday afternoon (ha - I think I said the same thing about Carol, the last film we saw).

***

Carol

Seen at the lovely 1930s Empire cinema in Bowral, NSW

Cecil says: Lesbian love in the 1950s. Starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. With its slow build-up and sense of forbidden feelings about it, this film had as much the feel of Brief Encounter as anything else more recent.

I actually liked it less than I thought I would. There was something about the relationship that didn't ring true for me, and it was more to do with social class than gender or sexuality. How likely was it that women from such different social backgrounds would be attracted? What actually attracted them to each other? From the way the characters developed (or didn't), you'd be excused for thinking the attraction was based purely on lust or physical attraction, though perhaps I'm being unfair and wouldn't judge a film portraying a heterosexual relationship in the same way. I'm not sure.

Cate Blanchett's character Carol was not attractive, that's for sure: very much the lead in the relationship with the come-ons and not so subtle hints about where they might go next. But she was also the person with more to lose, in a conventional way of looking at life, as she had the lady-of-leisure, kept woman lifestyle. Was it well acted by Blanchett, so we are not supposed to like her, or was it actually mis-cast?

Therese was the one who started with nothing, serving on the counter in a department store, wearing bohemian clothes with great style. But we didn't really learn much about her background, her family, her loves (except that she had played with train sets as a little girl).

I did like the 1950s setting, though: the cars, the clothes, the shops. And this was early 1950s so really not far into the great consumer society and the 'never had it so good' world.

***

Bea says: 

I liked this more than Cecil did, unexpectedly so, as after reading a couple of reviews and seeing some trailers of it I felt ambivalent about the older woman/younger woman relationship and, like Cecil, could immediately see in those trailers that the Carol character was rather unlikeable.

What I didn't expect, and what really made me enjoy the film, was relating so much to Therese - the younger character.  Therese's young life in the city reminded me - nostalgically - of my own young life in my early years of living in London.  The first few years I was there I lived alone in a staff accommodation bedsit-type set up, and it seems the mid 1990s was remarkably not unlike the 1950s.

I too made and received emotionally laden phone calls from the corridor phone.  I too had young men calling, both on the phone and in person (although unlike Therese I didn't have older women calling - however, for me this film was rather more about first "love" than it was a lesbian relationship).  I too have had the experience of spending a Sunday (which can be a long, lonely and quiet day when you have no family and only new, not well-established friends in a big city) with a new love, and having all go rather wrong and have ended up crying all the way home to my depressing, empty bedsit and the prospect of a working week to come.

I did not like the character of Carol - and like Cecil am not sure if this was an intentional device from the director or not.  Not liking the main character of a film can make it difficult to care what happens as the plot progresses.  Blanchett seemed to play Carol in a removed way, as if observing from a distance, so it was hard to get under the skin of the character.  As a result, I enjoyed Mara's performance much more, and like Cecil loved the costuming and styling, although I thought the stylist borrowed much too heavily from Audrey Hepburn in their styling of Therese - at least one of the outfits (the tartan pinafore), if I am not wrong, is a dead ringer for something Hepburn wears in one of her films.

And, if I'm not mistaken, one of the final scenes in which Mara walks through New York on a misty evening and hails a taxi is quite a lot like the one of the final scenes of Breakfast at Tiffany's.  Not a bad thing to do, just derivative.  Now, I haven't read the book nor checked to see if Breakfast at Tiffany's is an influence or reference-point for the book, or whether it was just that the plotline of the young ingénue in the city reminded the styling and directorial team of the film.

If you like Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, vintage styling or if you've ever lived alone in a city as a young person and made your way in the world from there, you might enjoy this film.

***