THE HURT LOCKER dir. Kathryn Bigelow

Perhaps the surprise late summer hit of 2009 The Hurt Locker is an unlikely star after months of Transformers/Harry Potter drudgery; deviating entirely away from recent war film convention and introducing the first mutterings of Oscar glory for lead star Jeremy Renner. Make no mistake, this is a film no right minded studio exec would ever choose to green light, ticking every 'No' box on the 'How to make a profitable movie' and breaking just about all the preconceived rules with regards to portraying the politically sensitive War in Iraq. 

The plot is pleasingly restrained, the atmosphere perfectly paced and each scene is refreshingly fraught with tension: a reckless yet stunningly courageous bomb disposal expert (Renner) leads a three man team on a series of increasingly dangerous missions in and around Bagdad, deactivating deadly IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices) and gunning down insurgents hell bent on wreaking violent havoc.  The material is prescient; much has been made by the British media of the increasingly large death toll of our armed forces at the hands the sophisticated IED's sprinkled liberally across Afghanistan by Taliban forces. Here we come face to face with the men carrying out these suicidal maneuvers and their emotional responses to the death and destruction constantly lurking in the foreground. We feel their fear, we breathe the same shallow lungfuls of oxygen Renner inhales from his disposal suit, we sweat their sweat and like them we grow increasingly tired and angry with the confused, bloody hell that they are forced to endure on a daily basis. 

Many critics have hailed the fact thatBigelow refuses to deal with politics, this is an astute and acute reflection of soldiering in near impossible circumstances and whilst the detailed portrayal of the current situation in Iraq certainly raises important politicized moral questions nevertheless there is never a sense of liberal lecturing or subtle hawking at play. Equally Bigelow is brave enough to confront uncomfortable truths about war, namely the possibility that some soldiers actually relish the danger and adrenaline of frontline action. Renner is one such soldier, lost in the bland comfort of the family home and plentiful Walmart, yet addicted to the grimy rush of war and the unbearable proximity of  death. 

Performances are solid; Renner is engaging and personable but the star of the show is Anthony Mackie as his subordinate Sgt. JT Sanborn, who combines measured pathos with fear, revulsion and desperate fragility as Renner's overbearing confidence and the horrors of their daily grind slowly diminish his assured spirit. 

As for the production team it is difficult to praise them highly enough. Bigelow deliberately uses multiple cameras to mimic the movements of the human eye and has roped in cinematographer Ben Ackroyd of United 93 fame to enhance the palpability of the raw, highly physical fight scenes. Shot in 44 days in Jordan, at some points only three miles from the Iraq border this is as visceral and involving a film about the current conflict in the Middle East, as it is possible to make. As Bigelow herself argues this 'muscular' style of camera work and editing leads to a sense of 'total immersion,' and she gets her pay off with some remarkable scenes of cinematic catharsis that left this viewer almost choking on his parched throat! 

With the exception of David Simmon's (creator of The Wire) Generation Kill TV mini series, this is the most starkly shocking, emotionally moving and (most importantly) entertaining analysis of the West involving itself in the affairs of Iraq and Afghanistan that one is likely to see this side of Paul Greengrass' Green Zone out next year. 

The Keep dir. Michael Mann

Staying focused on Michael Mann's distinctive and varied repertoire I had the privilege of attending a screening of his second film The Keep (1983) at the BFI on Tuesday. As I explained last week I'm an avid fan of Mann and Heat, his seminal 1995 heist thriller set in the mesmerizing night scape of LA is surely one of the most complete and brilliant films of that decade. I took the liberty of delving into Amazon's back catalog a few days after Public Enemies and ordered a number of Mann's older and possibly better works to add to my DVD collection. I saw The Insider when I was perhaps thirteen and I am looking forward to updating my memories of a starkly visual film overwrought with slow motion stills of Russel Crowe walking through revolving doors. Of the other two films I purchased: Manhunter and Thief I know little, though both have been critically lauded with Manhunter hailed by many as a superior Hannibal Lecktor film to Silence of the Lambs.
Anyway back to The Keep and my reasons for wishing to discuss its relative merits and faults. I was intrigued during my trawls through IMDB to see that Mann's little known second film had no DVD release and indeed Amazon had a solitary VHS copy of the film available for a full £45, perhaps the most expensive Video Tape of a major release in the world? With an amazing stroke of good fortune a friend had noticed The Keep was being screened at the BFI this week and eager to gain the privilege of seeing Mann's most obscure work we hastily bought tickets.
On viewing the film we were certainly taken aback. One clear reason for the reticence of Paramount to re-master the movie and release it on DVD is its highly ambiguous nature. The Keep, with its Eighties synths, scratchy visuals, juddering camera work, bizarre plot and cheap visual effects is about as far removed from the slick digital accuracy of Public Enemies as it is possible to imagine. Following a group of jaded Nazi soldiers protecting a lonely rural mountain pass in Romania during the closing stages of WWII Mann draws upon the traditions of typical European fairy tale and the experience of Eastern European Jews to create a strange tale dominated by the doomed Medieval Keep at the heart of the Romanian village. It is from this sinister building that a strange force, often illustrated using a number of smoke machines strapped to a red light, emanates wreaking violent destruction on the Nazi invaders and our three other protagonists: a Jewish history scholar, his beautiful daughter and a beguiling traveler who somehow seduces said daughter into one of the strangest and least erotic sex-scenes ever committed to celluloid.
In many ways The Keep is a product of its time. Indeed Mann himself is quoted as saying 'the production design and form of the film were in better shape than its content' and in many respects he is right. The rhythm and physical setting of the action is impressive, the cast fantastic (Sir Ian McKellen, Scott Glenn and Gabriel Byrne) and the aspiration of director and producer is resolutely profound. Mann has set out to reformulate the Fairy Tale in a complex context of fascist intimidation and magical realism and he largely succeeds. But this is clearly a work constrained by budget, by location (North Wales) and by the film making standards of the era. Had it been produced in 2008 The Keep would struggle to attract a viewer on You Tube, let alone secure funding and a release from a major studio, it lacks a professional cohesiveness and seems almost primitive when compared to astounding films such as Blade Runner from a similar era. There are hints at a bright future with neat visuals, the enduring concept of the challenging heist (when Nazi soldiers attempt to prise a silver cross of the wall) and acute attention to detail, whilst the soundtrack by TangerineDream is penetrating and suitably dazed for the pastoral fantasy playing out before our eyes.
In short The Keep is certainly not worth splashing £45 for the VHS. Neither is it worth £5 on DVD but for serious Michael Mann fans it is a beguiling example of a director learning and developing a specific vision and a unique and very special set of skills.

PUBLIC ENEMIES dir. Michael Mann

The week that was 12/07/09 - 19/07/09 saw me visit the cinema on three separate occasions. A frankly rather sad total and one that I am sure many studio heads can only dream of achieving on a weekly basis. The reason for my sudden descent into cinematic oblivion has a lot to do with two particularly important summer tent-pole releases, the term given to major blockbuster films whose certainty of profit will prop-up their flakier titles and drooping audience figures throughout the following year. I will leave the respective merits and disappointments of Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Bruno' and Warner Bros. 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' to the vast array of comment and criticism on offer in publications ranging from The Sun to The Economist, but suffice to say that whilst they were both perfectly enjoyable, neither was particularly fulfilling or daring.
To a large extent Michael Mann's new release, the Depression-era crime epic 'Public Enemies', staring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, leaves the viewer with a similar sense of disappointment. Just as Baron Cohen has found after the stunning success of Borat back in 2006, there is a sense of expectation surrounding any new Mann film; a director and writer who has managed to weld the commercial pitfalls of the Hollywood studio system with beautifully shot, interesting and truly cinematic movies. The very titles Heat, The Insider, Collateral, and Manhunter to name but a few, are immediately recognizable iconic bastions of craft and visual brilliance in American Cinema, stretching back for well over three decades of universal success.
As a result of this impressive legacy and as Mark Kemode so eloquently explained on his BBC Radio Five Live review of the film last week, we the audience are perhaps rather too desperate for Mann to succeed in quenching our collective thirst for a worthwhile film in the desert that is popular cinema in 2009. So far this summer we have been offered an array of disappointing Hollywood action flicks in the vein of Terminator Last Salvation and Transformers 2 and a series of funny but mindless comedies such as The Hangover. With Mann at the helm and a reformulation of perhaps his most popular film Heat, along with two of Hollywood's finest actors facing off in a Pacino/De Niro style gangster thriller and supported by an exciting cast, large budget and total creative control, everything suggested Public Enemies would be another masterpiece.
What we get however is a beautifully shot film, enhanced by solid performances, brutal realism, breathtaking attention to detail and intelligent depth, but crucially lacking in character connection and emotional sympathy. As we follow Depp's enigmatic but charming John Dillinger; at once a bank robber, gang leader, violent thug, movie fan and selfless romantic, strut through the American Midwest at the height of the 1930's Depression taking down banks and orchestrating prison breaks, do we the audience find an emotional resonance in his actions? Do we identify with his lonely masculinity and intense affection for Billie Fenchette (played brilliantly by French actress Marion Cotillard)? Do we pity his violent friends and fellow gangsters as they are picked off by Melvin Purvis' FBI team? Do we even care when Dillinger is finally executed in the dying moments of the film?
Sadly the answers to all these questions is a resounding "No!" Despite every efficient frame of rich visual pleasure and every twist in the surprising, dramatic script this is a film that leaves its audience feeling cold. Despite his desire to back away from the long shadow of Heat, even Mann cannot deny the similarities between the two films, but where once the viewer found the mysterious and lonely De Niro an engaging criminal and the self-righteous Pacino a fascinating policeman, prepared to abandon his family in his persuit of the criminal, Dillinger and Purvis are individualistic characters without social connections or emotional sympathy. As a result the dynamic interplay between good/evil, gangster/cop, man/family and morality/law feels dull and forced. Dillinger is essentially a bad man with few redeeming features, whilst Purivs is merely one of many cinematic detectives: oily, reserved, skilled and solidly moralistic. We are watching a film where the characters don't surprise us, where our feelings and inclinations don't disturb us and where ultimately we know exactly what happens before it takes place.
As a result Mann has probably produced the summer's most impressive film so far, but one that looses emotional resonance through its cast of bland protagonists and contrived attempts to create epic studies of human character and in the blinding glare of recent American history.

FILM REVIEW: THE FALL dir. Tarsem

FILM REVIEW: THE FALL dir. Tarsem

This week I'm introducing a new blog feature to tie in with my passion for film and overtly critical disposition, the first of what I hope will be a long series of online Film Reviews. More often than not I will try to focus on contemporary releases; hopefully not involving Transformers, Hugh Grant or anything to with Sarah Jessica Parker, but there might be the odd oldie or a minor film from a few years back thrown in along the way.

Before I begin and in much the same style as that whacky kook Rafa Benitez I believe I should state a few facts. Firstly I'm not a film snob and I like big budget blockbusters that are actually good and not purely aimed at becoming a season tent pole that studios use as an excuse to make a lot of money. In the same way I can't stand 'arthouse' independent films that wallow in mediocrity, pretension and weird sex scenes.

Secondly I'm not here professing in any way to being an expert. I know comparatively little about film compared to many, and my tastes are far from broad. But I feel that I have watched and read enough about the medium to offer worthwhile critiques of films I feel passionate enough to write about.

Thirdly I hope this is the last time I ever write using a numbered list as its really not a very enlightened way of writing and feels a bit too Daily Mail for my taste!

So anyway, the honor of becoming the subject of my very first online review is bestowed upon the surreal, inspiring, multi-faceted, somewhat confusing, far from perfect second film from the enigmatic American/Indian director Tarsem Singh, known publicly simply as Tarsm. Entitled 'The Fall' it is a visual masterpiece that has effectively been twenty years in the making and establishes its creator as one of the most inventive and insightful cinematic directors around, due to his astonishing use of natural landscape and artful blending of physical reality with a sort of semi-mythic magical-realism. In short it is a compelling and thoroughly original film, worthy of much more interest and praise than it has hitherto received from audiences and reviewers alike.

Ostensibly, perhaps the most important and interesting aspect to this film is its visionary creator and director rather than the script, the story or the actors. Tarsem is quite simply a maverick, a figure who has distilled every ounce of his incredible skill, vision, passion and artistic flair into creating a highly personal labour of love, and a sonnet of sorts to the arresting natural beauty of his native India. In a refreshing departure from the gluttony of many powerful figures in the upper echelons of Hollywood he financed the film largely using his own funds and created a deliberately socialist style of cast and crew remuneration by paying everyone involved in the film equally. Whilst his background in producing adverts for Nike and Coca-Cola, to name but a few, might seem more Michael Bay than Ken Loach it is clear from the very outset that this is a film about as far removed from convention as a priest who doesn't have a penchant for children and alcohol.

The basic plot outline is rather complex; riffing off ancient myths involving conquistadors, warriors and slaves and stories such as The Wizard of Oz, Tarsem uses the relationship built in a sweltering LA hospital, between an injured stuntman and a young Latino girl who picks California's golden oranges for a living, to delve into the mysterious enigma of human imagination and the dangerous intersection between the world we inhabit in our dreams and the painful realities that bite when we wake from them.

Our stuntman hero Roy (Lee Pace) is trying to recover from a heavy fall off a horse, as well as a painful breakup from his actress lover, while the wonderful Catinca Utaru, playing Alexandra his young companion, is unwittingly learning to cope with the death of her father, as well as her plaster encrusted broken arm. In a bid to win her trust and eventually steal the dulling delight that is morphine for him, Roy creates a surreal fairytale that takes over the primary thread of the film. Set in an anonymous but stunning realm it follows five distinct heroes, including a fantastic and highly stylized version of a young Charles Darwin, as they all try to avenge the murderous violence of the tyrant conquistador Odious. As his drug abuse and despair deepen however, Roy's tale, which at first seen through the eyes of Alexandra seemed so distant and magical, takes a darker turn; drawing characters from Roy's life into its depths and eventually threatening to spill over into reality itself.

The truly special moments here arrive in the spell binding landscapes and locations Tarsem transports his five heroes to, through the potent imagination of Alexandra. From Butterfly Reef, nestled in the tropical sea surrounding Fiji, to Jodpurh the 'Blue City' of Rajistan, 'The Fall' utilizes over twenty of the world's most startling and naturally striking locations to create a fantasy that seems every bit as distant from physical possibility as the now highly ubiquitous and often tedious use of greenscreen to create bland landscapes and 'artistic' cinematography.

Of course the film won't be to everyone's tastes, though no great work of art ever is. There are plenty of faults at the heart of 'The Fall' ranging from a definite imbalance between plot and style through to a lack of clarity and plausibility when it comes to determining Roy's increasing angst and despair before his sudden rejuvenation in the final scenes. Shot entirely in digital there will be many who pine for the depth and feel of ordinary film, but as far as I'm concerned the clarity of Tarsem's vision is clearly and perfectly captured by the refined quality of digital technology.

David Fincher and Spike Jonze, two of Tinsel Town's more inventive and interesting directors, both lent their support to this production and it is easy to see why. 'The Fall' is quite simply an assured and daring attempt to amalgamate the vast complexities of the human subconscious and imagination with the dull predictability of physical boundaries and personal suffering. Despite its originality, pastoral beauty and vivid script however, 'The Fall' was only a minor blip on the Hollywood radar on its release in Autumn 2008. I can imagine that for its creator and visionary Tarsem, this is a point of minor importance. He has achieved something special with this film and so long as his audience feel the same way about his achievements as I do, then he will have succeeded in his desire to conjure intense emotion and passion for the art of storytelling as well as a deep affection for the succinct and startling magnitude of nature's greatest vistas.

Please take my word for it and watch this film.