Cecil says: Some of the billboards for this film refer to it as 'Joe Wright's Anna Karenina'. Hmmm, that sounded a note of warning in my mind. And once the film began, I just thought: What the...
What's with all the West End choreography? For goodness sake.
It's funny, though, isn't it? When we went to see Brief Encounter on the West End stage, and they combined film clips from the movie with the stage performance, it really worked.
But the ridiculous synchronised office staff, and frozen fixed dancers, who begin moving at a signal from somewhere off-stage. And the constant views of the stage ropes and stage floor.
What WAS he trying to do? A Brechtian distancing of the audience from the action on the screen? Maybe it was to distract away from the less-than-convincing acting on the stage...
Honestly, for one the best, most passionate pieces of literature ever, this was contrived nonsense.
Where it stuck to 'normal' cinematic bits, I got engaged with it. It's hard to ruin totally such a fantastic plot and such amazing characters. But Joe Wright did his best to (and it surely wasn't Tom Stoppard's screenplay?).
I didn't really care about any of the characters; I didn't feel much empathy for any of it.
Oh dear, the whole charade made me want to read the book again just to take away the image of Keira Knightley as Anna...
**.5
Bea says: I have been waiting for the right moment in my life to read this classic work of literature. After seeing this, I think that time might be now. I wonder if I had read it, this would have been an easier film to watch - but according to Cecil it made no difference at all.
In some ways I didn't mind the whole theatrical premise - it was very opulent and beautiful to look at certainly. But it was - distracting. And it did make me not enter the characters and their situation quite in the way I might have if it had been more conventionally told. But maybe that was also the somewhat wooden acting of Keira Knightley, who has her place but it is not really this. I just don't think she acts well enough - my emotions weren't really hooked at all as Anna moves further and further down the path of self-destruction, and I didn't care enough about her. I wasn't too sure about Matthew MacFadyen either - both he and Knightley seemed to have been told to ham up their Britishness, which was frankly odd in Imperial Russia.
I did enjoy some of the subplots and the actors involved in those - particularly Domhnall Gleeson as Levin, who we have just recently seen in Shadow Dancer, and perhaps I am being too fanciful but there were some references to Dr Zhivago too, or was it just Imperial Russia, steam trains and steppes?
Nice to look at, but if you want to really get caught up in the story, you might be better off buying the book.
**.5
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Shadow Dancer
Cecil says: We'd just been to Northern Ireland earlier this summer, so were keen to see this film. On one level, it's historical: beginning with a sectarian killing in the early 1970s but then picking up the threads and the characters some 20 years later, just as peace talks began to make some headway. On another level, it's what the French would term a 'drame psychologique', with issues of trust, loyalty, tribalism, community which never really go away.
Northern Ireland is a better place now than it was 20 years ago, though there are still tensions and a sense of the tribal in some parts even today.
It was a tough place to grow up in, though. And this film does a good job of showing the underlying tension around every aspect of life. I think I'm right in saying that nobody laughs even once throughout the 100 minutes of the film - it's grim. But it's good drama.
Andrea Riseborough stars as the sister of the little boy, shot in a 1970s sectarian attack. She's good, interracting with Mac from MI5, and her family, itself torn apart by conflicting loyalties and demands. Kevin of the IRA is an ever-present sinister character, making sure 'his' people don't stray.
No spoilers in this review. Just to say that, for me, the only weakness in the storyline comes right at the end, when someone acts without the due caution you'd surely be used to taking after years in a place like Northern Ireland.
Interestingly, among the key actors in the film, only Brid Brennan - playing Ma - seems to be from Northern Ireland herself (there's even Gillian Anderson playing the top MI5 bod), and maybe that's why she gets her part across so well.
This is good drama, but no barrel of laughs.
***
Bea says: Grim, gritty, and as Cecil says, not a whole lot of laughs, but a good, suspense-filled thriller plot as we follow the story of a family who are deeply involved in the Troubles, and their complex relationship with both the IRA and MI5. Set in London and Belfast in the early 1990s, I enjoyed the focus of the film on the life and choices of a young woman during that period of history (although I didn't think all of the costuming was entirely accurate). I didn't guess all the twists, and if you enjoy Spooks, you'll like this.
***
Northern Ireland is a better place now than it was 20 years ago, though there are still tensions and a sense of the tribal in some parts even today.
It was a tough place to grow up in, though. And this film does a good job of showing the underlying tension around every aspect of life. I think I'm right in saying that nobody laughs even once throughout the 100 minutes of the film - it's grim. But it's good drama.
Andrea Riseborough stars as the sister of the little boy, shot in a 1970s sectarian attack. She's good, interracting with Mac from MI5, and her family, itself torn apart by conflicting loyalties and demands. Kevin of the IRA is an ever-present sinister character, making sure 'his' people don't stray.
No spoilers in this review. Just to say that, for me, the only weakness in the storyline comes right at the end, when someone acts without the due caution you'd surely be used to taking after years in a place like Northern Ireland.
Interestingly, among the key actors in the film, only Brid Brennan - playing Ma - seems to be from Northern Ireland herself (there's even Gillian Anderson playing the top MI5 bod), and maybe that's why she gets her part across so well.
This is good drama, but no barrel of laughs.
***
Bea says: Grim, gritty, and as Cecil says, not a whole lot of laughs, but a good, suspense-filled thriller plot as we follow the story of a family who are deeply involved in the Troubles, and their complex relationship with both the IRA and MI5. Set in London and Belfast in the early 1990s, I enjoyed the focus of the film on the life and choices of a young woman during that period of history (although I didn't think all of the costuming was entirely accurate). I didn't guess all the twists, and if you enjoy Spooks, you'll like this.
***
Sunday, 26 August 2012
360
Cecil says: We saw this a couple of weeks ago at the Queens Film Theatre in Belfast (a rather extraordinary Georgian looking townhouse from the front, but with a Tardis-like super-modern cinema inside).
Leaving a film so long before reviewing it can mean it fades into insignificance, especially if it was fairly mediocre or dull. One of the local papers, the Irish News, had given 360 a 'boring' label, so we weren't sure what to expect, although the plot sounded intriguing and the cast rather good.
Well, we certainly didn't find it boring. But, when I came to recall my impressions for this review, the odd thing is that the character that came back most strongly was the one played by Anthony Hopkins. This is by no means the main character, but Hopkins played the man so convincingly that his story stayed in my mind much more clearly than all the others.
You see this film is all about our different journeys through life, how they intertwine or connect, and how sometimes the decisions we take don't end up leading to the result we expect.
Hopkins, for example, plays an ageing alcoholic, whose daughter disappeared years ago. Every time he hears on the news of a young woman's body being found, he travels miles, sometimes across oceans, to check it isn't her.
On this particular journey, he meets a young Brazilian woman on the plane; now, she has just split up from her photographer boyfriend; but she also gets chatting to this recently-released sex offender...
I know, I know, it's all sounding rather convoluted, and I haven't even mentioned the Russian mafia or the Slovakian prostitutes, or the British car dealer...
But it is a very engaging film, and what's nice about it, for someone like me who has travelled a lot, is that it portrays travel and movement, and crossing borders as a very normal, run-of-the-mill business. Coincidences and chance encounters are now global.
On some levels it's a bit clichéd, but on others it's quite subtle, and I liked the way 'bad' people and situations are not ALL bad, through and through.
Whatever you make of it, it's not boring. And go to see Anthony Hopkins just for the great acting.
***
Bea says:
I also liked the travel/movement theme to this bittersweet film - but for me it was really about the twists and turns that present themselves to us in life; about the opportunities we take, and the ones that we don't. All the performances were good, although few can match Hopkins in a good role, and the writing was very good indeed - multi-story plot lines can be hard to pull off but this did it effortlessly without any of the "who's that again?"/"what's going on" that can plague them.
But above all, and it happens so rarely in film, TV and books now, this film made me happy, despite numerous very sad story lines, and made me think of the Sheenagh Pugh poem Sometimes - Sometimes, things don't go, after all, from bad to worse.... And that was a priceless feeling for a Saturday night in Belfast.
***1/2
Leaving a film so long before reviewing it can mean it fades into insignificance, especially if it was fairly mediocre or dull. One of the local papers, the Irish News, had given 360 a 'boring' label, so we weren't sure what to expect, although the plot sounded intriguing and the cast rather good.
Well, we certainly didn't find it boring. But, when I came to recall my impressions for this review, the odd thing is that the character that came back most strongly was the one played by Anthony Hopkins. This is by no means the main character, but Hopkins played the man so convincingly that his story stayed in my mind much more clearly than all the others.
You see this film is all about our different journeys through life, how they intertwine or connect, and how sometimes the decisions we take don't end up leading to the result we expect.
Hopkins, for example, plays an ageing alcoholic, whose daughter disappeared years ago. Every time he hears on the news of a young woman's body being found, he travels miles, sometimes across oceans, to check it isn't her.
On this particular journey, he meets a young Brazilian woman on the plane; now, she has just split up from her photographer boyfriend; but she also gets chatting to this recently-released sex offender...
I know, I know, it's all sounding rather convoluted, and I haven't even mentioned the Russian mafia or the Slovakian prostitutes, or the British car dealer...
But it is a very engaging film, and what's nice about it, for someone like me who has travelled a lot, is that it portrays travel and movement, and crossing borders as a very normal, run-of-the-mill business. Coincidences and chance encounters are now global.
On some levels it's a bit clichéd, but on others it's quite subtle, and I liked the way 'bad' people and situations are not ALL bad, through and through.
Whatever you make of it, it's not boring. And go to see Anthony Hopkins just for the great acting.
***
Bea says:
I also liked the travel/movement theme to this bittersweet film - but for me it was really about the twists and turns that present themselves to us in life; about the opportunities we take, and the ones that we don't. All the performances were good, although few can match Hopkins in a good role, and the writing was very good indeed - multi-story plot lines can be hard to pull off but this did it effortlessly without any of the "who's that again?"/"what's going on" that can plague them.
But above all, and it happens so rarely in film, TV and books now, this film made me happy, despite numerous very sad story lines, and made me think of the Sheenagh Pugh poem Sometimes - Sometimes, things don't go, after all, from bad to worse.... And that was a priceless feeling for a Saturday night in Belfast.
***1/2
Friday, 3 August 2012
Cosmopolis
Bea says: It's been a while since I've watched a Cronenberg film, but not too much has changed since I did. Still very avant-garde, but also very beautiful, and still obsessed with bodily functions.
The action of Cosmopolis mostly takes place inside a limousine, in a kind of not-too-distant, dispossessed future which is actually very scarily like our present world (currency collapse, the occupy movement etc). A series of guests visit our beautiful, young protagonist (last seen in Twilight!), the head of a multinational corporation, as he drives through the streets of a large city, protected, and cut off, by his bodyguards and the armoured vehicle he is in, and it is only towards the end of the film that he leaves it to meet two people important to his life in different ways.
This film has some of the clearest, most interesting and perfect dialogue I have ever heard, and reminded me of some of the old playwrights I have read - Brecht, or Beckett perhaps. I saw from the credits that it is an adaptation of a novel, and it feels like it. It is something so sharp, so different, that holds up a mirror to our lives. If you like Cronenberg, see it. If you don't, well, maybe it would be hard going; nothing really happens, but actually lots does, all at the same time, but you might just find it stays with you.
What do I mean??
***
Cecil says: At first I thought this modern, arty cinema in Inverness had a fantastic sound system; but then, as the dialogue of the film continued in the crisp, clear tones Bea described, I wasn't sure whether it was the intention of the director or whether the Eden Court had a super acoustic. Thing is, I have no intention of going to see this film again anywhere else to find out...
It's not to say that it was a bad a film or even that I wriggled in my seat in a 'help-get-me-out-of-here' kind of way. But it wasn't a lot of fun, let's face it. I actually didn't really know who Cronenberg was, and maybe if I had realised, I might have chosen a different film.
That said, Bea and I did find ourselves talking about the film for some hours afterwards over dinner, so it was thought-provoking and challenging.
Bea's right that it felt a lot like a Brechtian play, with characters not quite talking to the camera, but certainly making comments on the world, the situation, life. But it also felt a lot as if it was trying to do for the 21st century what Metropolis did in the 1920s. A questioning of the way society is going and where we'll all end up.
Juliette Binoche intrigued me, as ever. She does sex on film incredibly well, but is it erotic? For some reason, not, but is THAT intentional?
I also liked the lead bodyguard - was he Danish? And rather disappointed as his fate...But I'll say no more or that might spoil the shocks...
**.5
The action of Cosmopolis mostly takes place inside a limousine, in a kind of not-too-distant, dispossessed future which is actually very scarily like our present world (currency collapse, the occupy movement etc). A series of guests visit our beautiful, young protagonist (last seen in Twilight!), the head of a multinational corporation, as he drives through the streets of a large city, protected, and cut off, by his bodyguards and the armoured vehicle he is in, and it is only towards the end of the film that he leaves it to meet two people important to his life in different ways.
This film has some of the clearest, most interesting and perfect dialogue I have ever heard, and reminded me of some of the old playwrights I have read - Brecht, or Beckett perhaps. I saw from the credits that it is an adaptation of a novel, and it feels like it. It is something so sharp, so different, that holds up a mirror to our lives. If you like Cronenberg, see it. If you don't, well, maybe it would be hard going; nothing really happens, but actually lots does, all at the same time, but you might just find it stays with you.
What do I mean??
***
Cecil says: At first I thought this modern, arty cinema in Inverness had a fantastic sound system; but then, as the dialogue of the film continued in the crisp, clear tones Bea described, I wasn't sure whether it was the intention of the director or whether the Eden Court had a super acoustic. Thing is, I have no intention of going to see this film again anywhere else to find out...
It's not to say that it was a bad a film or even that I wriggled in my seat in a 'help-get-me-out-of-here' kind of way. But it wasn't a lot of fun, let's face it. I actually didn't really know who Cronenberg was, and maybe if I had realised, I might have chosen a different film.
That said, Bea and I did find ourselves talking about the film for some hours afterwards over dinner, so it was thought-provoking and challenging.
Bea's right that it felt a lot like a Brechtian play, with characters not quite talking to the camera, but certainly making comments on the world, the situation, life. But it also felt a lot as if it was trying to do for the 21st century what Metropolis did in the 1920s. A questioning of the way society is going and where we'll all end up.
Juliette Binoche intrigued me, as ever. She does sex on film incredibly well, but is it erotic? For some reason, not, but is THAT intentional?
I also liked the lead bodyguard - was he Danish? And rather disappointed as his fate...But I'll say no more or that might spoil the shocks...
**.5
Monday, 2 July 2012
Rock of Ages
Cecil says: I kind of knew this was going to be about the music industry before I sat down to watch it, and the opening scene looked fairly normal at first: young teenage girl gets onto Greyhound bus in small town America.
Then she begins singing. And my first thought was: well, that's not very realistic, is it. But then the whole bus full of passengers takes up the chorus, and we're off...And it dawns on me: we've come to a musical. OH MY GOD. I wasn't ready for THAT!!
It's probably the first time I've been to a musical since Stayin' Alive in the 1970s. But you know what, this film grew on me as it found its way through the ups and downs of kids trying to make it on the music scene in LA.
Alec Baldwin was brilliant as the ageing night club owner; Russell Brand almost as good as his side-kick and partner (and I'm no fan of Russell Brand in real life, so that's quite something coming from me); and Catherine Zeta-Jones adding a bit of evil to the storyline, kind of like one of the villains in a Batman film ("we're gonna clean up this city", but in fact they're the evil ones).
And Tom Cruise does a pretty good job as the idiosyncratic mega-star, but I'm sure others will rave about him, so I'll leave it at that. My one question is: did he do his own singing or was it dubbed??
A feel-good film, but not the slightest bit thought-provoking. But, hey, for a bit of innocent fun, worth seeing.
***
Bea says: Working too hard? Endless UK rain getting you down? Worries? Troubles? Go and see this film, it's the perfect antidote. You can disengage your brain and forget all about real life completely for a couple of hours, and you'll leave with a smile on your face.
I had read a review of Rock of Ages the week before we went to see it, and it was on the strength of that review that I suggested it to musical-hating Cecil - I had been under the impression that it was the story of a struggling nightclub which was about to go bust and whose entire future hung on legendary ageing rocker Stacee Jaxx (played by an apparently 29 year old looking Tom Cruise), and featuring music from the 1970s. After the film, I told Cecil this and we both fell about laughing - had the reviewer actually seen the the film at all?
Rock of Ages is kind of about a struggling nightclub, and a gig by Stacee Jaxx (played by the very under-rated, and very funny Tom Cruise, who looks awesome, although not 29!), but it mostly about two young people trying to make it in Hollywood, like so many before them, and features a quite hard (although not heavy) rock soundtrack from the late 1980s - think Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, whose frontmen I gather Stacee Jaxx is based on. I was young in the late 1980s and I wasn't into this kind of music, or those kinds of men, at that time, but these were big hits and I remembered all but one, and Cruise was fantastic. Great fun.
***
Then she begins singing. And my first thought was: well, that's not very realistic, is it. But then the whole bus full of passengers takes up the chorus, and we're off...And it dawns on me: we've come to a musical. OH MY GOD. I wasn't ready for THAT!!
It's probably the first time I've been to a musical since Stayin' Alive in the 1970s. But you know what, this film grew on me as it found its way through the ups and downs of kids trying to make it on the music scene in LA.
Alec Baldwin was brilliant as the ageing night club owner; Russell Brand almost as good as his side-kick and partner (and I'm no fan of Russell Brand in real life, so that's quite something coming from me); and Catherine Zeta-Jones adding a bit of evil to the storyline, kind of like one of the villains in a Batman film ("we're gonna clean up this city", but in fact they're the evil ones).
And Tom Cruise does a pretty good job as the idiosyncratic mega-star, but I'm sure others will rave about him, so I'll leave it at that. My one question is: did he do his own singing or was it dubbed??
A feel-good film, but not the slightest bit thought-provoking. But, hey, for a bit of innocent fun, worth seeing.
***
Bea says: Working too hard? Endless UK rain getting you down? Worries? Troubles? Go and see this film, it's the perfect antidote. You can disengage your brain and forget all about real life completely for a couple of hours, and you'll leave with a smile on your face.
I had read a review of Rock of Ages the week before we went to see it, and it was on the strength of that review that I suggested it to musical-hating Cecil - I had been under the impression that it was the story of a struggling nightclub which was about to go bust and whose entire future hung on legendary ageing rocker Stacee Jaxx (played by an apparently 29 year old looking Tom Cruise), and featuring music from the 1970s. After the film, I told Cecil this and we both fell about laughing - had the reviewer actually seen the the film at all?
Rock of Ages is kind of about a struggling nightclub, and a gig by Stacee Jaxx (played by the very under-rated, and very funny Tom Cruise, who looks awesome, although not 29!), but it mostly about two young people trying to make it in Hollywood, like so many before them, and features a quite hard (although not heavy) rock soundtrack from the late 1980s - think Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, whose frontmen I gather Stacee Jaxx is based on. I was young in the late 1980s and I wasn't into this kind of music, or those kinds of men, at that time, but these were big hits and I remembered all but one, and Cruise was fantastic. Great fun.
***
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Ill Manors
Bea says: I had read a review of Ill Manors earlier in the day we decided to go and see it, and nearly put Cecil off by telling him there was lots of rap music in it - not his favourite! However, the music was great throughout - not that aggressive, misogynist rap I don't like either, but thoughtful rap, of the ilk of groups like Public Enemy (and I am showing my age here!). There was also a spellbinding spoken word scene ("Pity the plight of young men") filmed as an open-mike piece in a London pub which just rooted me to the spot and has stayed with me since.
This sad, sad story of the descent into drugs, violence and prostitution of so many young people on the London estates was harrowing to watch, but just about avoided bleakness by following the personal stories of the characters, and letting us see who got out, and how.
Director and writer Ben Drew apparently struggled to make this film, about his real life experiences growing up in London, and I am glad he stuck with it - someone to watch.
***
Cecil says: Riz Ahmed is becoming the Bill Nighy of the ethnic minority acting role - he seems to be in nearly every film we see these days - or is that more a reflection of the type of film we go and see? In any case he's good, as are the other actors, many of whom I gather from Wikipedia were basically East End friends of the director, so they knew the roles they were playing.
As Bea says, when I heard the film would be backed by virtually constant rap music, I almost turned the car round and drove home, but actually I was gripped from the outset and enjoyed the soundtrack - if you can use the word 'enjoy' about anything in this film.
If you want a cheery, happy-go-lucky film, Ill Manors is not for you. It is almost unbearably bleak, with some scenes making me grimace at how horrific they were, and how believable they were.
And in addition to liking the soundtrack, I was amazed that - on the whole - I managed to follow the dialogue of 'street' slang; I guess I might have struggled more if this had been set in LA or New York, but London is familiar enough and I couldn't help wondering how many incidents and characters like these I had walked past over the years without having any idea of them.
Good film? Yes, definitely. But there were only 4 of us sitting in Stockton-on-Tees multiplex. Hmmm, more suited to the Tyneside Cinema or Gala in Durham I'd have thought.
***.5
This sad, sad story of the descent into drugs, violence and prostitution of so many young people on the London estates was harrowing to watch, but just about avoided bleakness by following the personal stories of the characters, and letting us see who got out, and how.
Director and writer Ben Drew apparently struggled to make this film, about his real life experiences growing up in London, and I am glad he stuck with it - someone to watch.
***
Cecil says: Riz Ahmed is becoming the Bill Nighy of the ethnic minority acting role - he seems to be in nearly every film we see these days - or is that more a reflection of the type of film we go and see? In any case he's good, as are the other actors, many of whom I gather from Wikipedia were basically East End friends of the director, so they knew the roles they were playing.
As Bea says, when I heard the film would be backed by virtually constant rap music, I almost turned the car round and drove home, but actually I was gripped from the outset and enjoyed the soundtrack - if you can use the word 'enjoy' about anything in this film.
If you want a cheery, happy-go-lucky film, Ill Manors is not for you. It is almost unbearably bleak, with some scenes making me grimace at how horrific they were, and how believable they were.
And in addition to liking the soundtrack, I was amazed that - on the whole - I managed to follow the dialogue of 'street' slang; I guess I might have struggled more if this had been set in LA or New York, but London is familiar enough and I couldn't help wondering how many incidents and characters like these I had walked past over the years without having any idea of them.
Good film? Yes, definitely. But there were only 4 of us sitting in Stockton-on-Tees multiplex. Hmmm, more suited to the Tyneside Cinema or Gala in Durham I'd have thought.
***.5
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Like Crazy
Bea says: On a rare day off work, Cecil took me off to the "Senior Screen" at the Odeon, Darlington, where I'm pleased to report I won the raffle (free entry next time) and enjoyed tea and biscuits on the way in. No one seemed to mind that I'm actually not a Senior.
The film that day was one we had never heard of - "Like Crazy"; all we knew was that it was a romcom. It turned out to be a very good one. The film follows the story of two young people who meet at university in LA; but as one is not from the USA, they are forced to continue their relationship long distance, with distinct on and off periods, and a rushed marriage to enable immigration visas.
This film really spoke to me; as someone who lives in a country they were not born in, and I have experienced some of the difficulties the couple in the film run into, some of which anyone in a relationship could relate to (the scene at Camden market made me snort with laughter - I've had that conversation a few times!).
The writing was very good - the story strong and involving, and it is nicely filmed as well. The performances are sound, and the end well done; the end of something, the beginning of something else. One interesting point - despite our so-called enlightened times, it was notable that it was the young woman who gave up her promising career to move to LA, not the other way around.
Definitely worth a see, and a good DVD/Netflix purchase too.
***
Cecil says: As someone who has had more than my fair share of 'international' relationships, I was gripped by this film from the word go, and could relate to lots of what was going on throughout.
I'm not sure it was appreciated by the Darlington 'seniors', though. There were grumbles from people around us as the film finished, and I guess if your relationships have always centred around the boy or girl next door or at most from the next town 10 miles away, then many of the issues and exotic romance of the storyline would not mean much.
As Bea says, some of the dialogue and situations were banal, but that was almost the painful beauty of the plot and the script.
Let's face it, relationships with someone on another continent are pretty hard to manage and keep going. It's not just visas (though my heart sank as they decided not to bother with their visa conditions quite early on in the film); it's the phone calls and texts abroad; the disconnect as you meet again after some long period apart. All this and more are the story of Like Crazy.
Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones do a great job as the passionate, but trans-atlantic couple. Their profiles on IMDb show that they're pretty busy and will be appearing in lots of films in the coming months, but they've not really made much of an impact so far (though I did actually see Felicity Jones at the premiere of Cheri some three years ago).
I'm not sure what happened to Like Crazy on general release. A good film, well worth seeing. But why did it end up at the Darlington Seniors morning??
***.5
The film that day was one we had never heard of - "Like Crazy"; all we knew was that it was a romcom. It turned out to be a very good one. The film follows the story of two young people who meet at university in LA; but as one is not from the USA, they are forced to continue their relationship long distance, with distinct on and off periods, and a rushed marriage to enable immigration visas.
This film really spoke to me; as someone who lives in a country they were not born in, and I have experienced some of the difficulties the couple in the film run into, some of which anyone in a relationship could relate to (the scene at Camden market made me snort with laughter - I've had that conversation a few times!).
The writing was very good - the story strong and involving, and it is nicely filmed as well. The performances are sound, and the end well done; the end of something, the beginning of something else. One interesting point - despite our so-called enlightened times, it was notable that it was the young woman who gave up her promising career to move to LA, not the other way around.
Definitely worth a see, and a good DVD/Netflix purchase too.
***
Cecil says: As someone who has had more than my fair share of 'international' relationships, I was gripped by this film from the word go, and could relate to lots of what was going on throughout.
I'm not sure it was appreciated by the Darlington 'seniors', though. There were grumbles from people around us as the film finished, and I guess if your relationships have always centred around the boy or girl next door or at most from the next town 10 miles away, then many of the issues and exotic romance of the storyline would not mean much.
As Bea says, some of the dialogue and situations were banal, but that was almost the painful beauty of the plot and the script.
Let's face it, relationships with someone on another continent are pretty hard to manage and keep going. It's not just visas (though my heart sank as they decided not to bother with their visa conditions quite early on in the film); it's the phone calls and texts abroad; the disconnect as you meet again after some long period apart. All this and more are the story of Like Crazy.
Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones do a great job as the passionate, but trans-atlantic couple. Their profiles on IMDb show that they're pretty busy and will be appearing in lots of films in the coming months, but they've not really made much of an impact so far (though I did actually see Felicity Jones at the premiere of Cheri some three years ago).
I'm not sure what happened to Like Crazy on general release. A good film, well worth seeing. But why did it end up at the Darlington Seniors morning??
***.5
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