April Film Reviews

Awake; Son of Rambow; Shine a Light; Leatherheads; Fool’s Gold; In Bruges; Persepolis; The Eye

Awake
Releases 4 April

Psychological thrillers, when done well, are among the most enthralling of all cinematic genres. After all, it was the field to which master director Alfred Hitchcock returned time and again.

Awake’s writer/director, Joby Harold, seems to have been studying Hitchcock long and hard when coming up with this, his debut feature. Revolving around one man’s gradual uncovering of a grand conspiracy against him, this is every classic Hitchcock thriller rolled into one. It even has a classic gimmick – something all good thrillers need – in that the main character unearths the plot against him while he’s awaiting an operation, anaesthetised but still able to hear the conspirators planning to kill him where he lies.

Here’s where the problems begin to emerge. The principle character is paralysed, and so unable to move or speak for the duration of the movie – something that could work on paper, but is hard to successfully bring about on film. Cue all sorts of odd flashback-style devices and, unforgivably, the dreaded voiceover – a technique so rarely successful that it should be banished from the screen for all eternity.

But that’s not the only problem. Where Hitchcock would often opt for middle-aged men for his leads, Harold has gone both for youth and for a character with whom it is impossible to identify. Hayden Christensen, best known as the young Darth Vader in the Star Wars prequels, may well be a superb actor – it’s a bit early in his career to say – but even a master thespian would have trouble getting the sympathies of the audience when they’re playing a pretty-boy multi-billionaire with Jessica Alba as his wife. There’s a grand conspiracy to bump him off? Good! No one should be that lucky!

Son of Rambow
Releases 4 April

Making a movie about children that will appeal to adults is one of the most difficult tasks that any filmmaker can set themselves. In Son of Rambow, British writer/director Garth Jennings has somehow managed to avoid all the problems that have scuppered so many other attempts at this kind of movie.

Set in the 1980s, this is the tale of a growing friendship between a young tearaway and an innocent child from a deeply religious family. As the duo try to remake the first Rambo film the story has the kind of gloriously light, subtle touch that seems to be an increasingly rare thing in these days of computer-generated excitement.

The storyline – though simple enough – remains more than strong enough to drag us all back from our sepia-tinted reverie, as enthusiasm for the two boys’ film project spreads throughout the local community in a wonderfully implausible bit of pre-teen wish-fulfilment. Writer/director Jennings is on record admitting that the basic storyline is semi-autobiographical, but it’s a fairly safe bet that his early attempts at making movies didn’t bring in quite this many enthusiastic volunteers.

With note-perfect performances from the two newcomers in the twin leads – expect great things from youngsters Bill Milner and Will Poulter in the years to come – Jennings has managed to construct a genuinely absorbing movie in the finest tradition of British light comedy. Sentimental without being twee, nostalgic without being too in-your-face and most importantly genuinely funny throughout, it’s just possible that this could end up the next Billy Elliot. Only without the ballet, obviously.

Shine a Light
Releases 11 April

Martin Scorsese may still be best-known as one of the finest feature film directors of the late-20th century – a man who should arguably have received the Best Director Oscar on six or seven occasions before his eventual win with last year’s The Departed – but he’s also not at all bad at making documentaries.

In Shine A Light, Scorsese seems to be returning to his documentary-making roots, with a similar approach to that taken on 1978’s The Last Waltz. That was effectively a film of a rock concert performed by 60s/70s heroes The Band, combined with backstage footage and interviews. Over the years, it has been repeatedly praised for being one of the finest concert movies ever made. It gives a superb insight into a legendary rock gig, as the group were joined by a wealth of megastars for a farewell performance.

Here, the Rolling Stones go in front of the camera to get the Scorsese treatment. Filmed over two nights of the Stones’ 2006 A Bigger Bang tour – almost exactly thirty years after the concert at the heart of The Last Waltz, in fact – again interviews and backstage footage intersperse the aging rockers doing their thing, as well as archive footage spreading back over the band’s 45-year career.

The result is a stylish combination of music video and documentary that will doubtless soon have pride of place among Rolling Stones fans’ DVD shelves.

Leatherheads
Releases 11 April

George Clooney really can’t do any wrong these days. Oscar nominations galore, blockbuster movies aplenty and an adoring public who seem willing to turn out in their millions.

This, Clooney’s third film as director, is very different to his last two efforts. Having proved his ability to garner career-best performances from his lead actors while combining interesting storytelling approaches with top-notch cinematography, Clooney now seems determined to show that he can do funny as a director as well as an actor, with this 1920s-set screwball-style romantic comedy.

This is a decidedly cunning move. It is, however, also a risky one, as modern revivals of the screwball style of comedy – combining witty dialogue with often absurdist situations and slapstick-style physical humour – have rarely managed to reach the heights of the genre’s 1930s/40s heyday.

With Renée Zellweger as that archetype of the screwball genre – the fast-talking and career-focused female reporter – bound to end up in some kind of romantic entanglement either with Clooney, as a brash American Football coach, or rising star John Krasinski, the cast is top-notch. Clooney’s superb comic sense combined with a great screenplay from newcomers Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, the action and humour is perfectly timed.

The end result is another triumph for Clooney as both director and star and a very welcome, rare return to the glory days of screwball. More of this sort of thing please, Mr Clooney.

In Bruges
Releases: 18 April

Movies about hitmen always have the potential for greatness. Assassins are, let’s face it, a very cool, very cinematic concept. On top of that, cinema has always loved violence and these are people whose entire lives revolve around violence, which is something that can be both visually impressive and very easy for audiences to identify with. In Bruges is the latest addition to a growing subgenre of movies looking at the assassin who has a change of heart.

Set in the picturesque Belgian city of Bruges (hence the title), the film revolves around two hitmen, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, sent overseas by their London boss – Ralph Fiennes on fine psychotic form – following a hit that’s gone badly wrong. Far from going for the spectacle of most other hitman movies – even those primarily about the mental state of the main characters – this is a far more introspective affair, as the pair sweat on what’s to become of them and fret about the path their lives have taken.

A rare and welcome opportunity for Colin Farrell to prove his acting mettle, especially when cast against such veteran heavyweights as Feinnes and Gleeson, this is a top-notch addition to the genre. Written and directed by rising Irish playwright Martin McDonagh – who has already clocked up Tony and Olivier awards for his stage work to go with his Oscar for Best Live Action Short for the Gleeson-starring Six Shooter back in 2006 – this is the sort of intelligent, character-driven work it’s rare to see on the big screen.

Fool’s Gold
Releases 18 April

It wouldn’t be Spring without a bit of romance in the air, yet this month sees a surprising lack of films revolving around love and relationships. What we do get, is this unusual romantic comedy. Not that it’s unusual in starring genre regulars Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey – teaming up again after their successful coupling in 2003’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days – but in its apparent attempt to appeal to both sexes for a change.

Fool’s Gold seems to be a deliberate attempt to get men as well as women popping along to the cinema. This is largely thanks to superficially trying to position McConaughey in a similar role to his Indiana Jones-style turn in 2005’s Sahara – that of daredevil treasure hunter. The only trouble is, having an Indiana Jones as the male character in a romantic comedy could instantly jettison any of the pretence these films must have that the two leads aren’t going to get together, because he’d simply be too good for any woman to resist.

And so McConaughey becomes a bizarre cross between a surfer-style slacker and Indiana Jones. He’s an obsessive treasure-hunting waste of space with whom it’s all but impossible to sympathise as Hudson dumps and divorces him at the start of the movie. Cue the usual implausible set-ups as the pair gradually – and inevitably – start to get back together, this time aided by the promise of a vast fortune in sunken gold bullion.

The end result is harmless enough stuff – perfectly fine for a girls’ night in should it crop up on the telly or there’s nothing better at the rental shop – but it’s hard to see anyone dashing to the multiplex for Fool’s Gold. It is, in other words, an aptly-named film – superficially it could look good, but on closer examination it turns out to be worthless.

Persepolis
Releases 25 April

Persepolis proves that animation is not just for the children. No animals dressed as humans here – just stark black and white drawings of people going about their lives. Yes, they may look slightly… cartoony – but rather than acting to lessen the seriousness of the subject-matter, these friendly, jolly visuals become a welcome softener as the story progresses, aiding our ability to identify with rather than alienating us from the main character.

Persepolis is the autobiographical story of Satrapi’s experiences as a young woman growing up in Iran following the 1979 Iranian Revolution’s introduction of militant Islamism to the Middle East. For a young girl – especially a young girl from an educated, upper-middle class background – the sudden introduction of strict interpretations of Islamic law and the suppression of women’s rights was a truly world-changing event.

But, of course, it was not – and is not – as simple as that. Within Iran itself, there are countless strange contradictions, with a booming (if sometimes censored) artistic scene, women being allowed far more freedom than in the likes of Saudi Arabia, and a level of development – in urban areas at least – among the highest in the region.

Where Persepolis excels, is in humanising this whole insanely complex affair, removing the focus on the endemic arguments over the politics and showing what daily life is like under these regimes in a deeply affecting, heart-warming way. Never mind reading the paper or buying serious books promising in-depth analysis of the political situation – in Persepolis you will get the best background on modern Iran that you will find pretty much anywhere, with this faithful, affecting and Oscar-nominated film version more than doing justice to the comics. Go see, and then go buy the comics. You won’t regret it.

The Eye
Releases 25 April

For a young actress trying to prove her mettle, appearing in a horror film can seem like a canny move. So little wonder Jessica Alba has now decided to do a horror film and, specifically, a remake of a South-East Asian horror flick. But does Jessica Alba really need a career boost? Especially one from a film that seems to be a remake not just of a 2002 movie, readily available on DVD, but also of the dire 1981 horror movie The Hand?

In The Eye we see a young blind girl get, well… eye transplants with a nasty side-effect and so the mystery of whose eyes they were becomes the heart of the film, as Alba starts to see horrible visions of death and destruction.

It’s all perfectly fine horror film fair and done adequately. But other than the fact that an English-language remake is entirely unnecessary – what’s wrong with the original with subtitles? – the real question is why has Alba bothered? With her career going well, the last thing she needs is to risk a horror movie flop. Lucky for her, this isn’t a bad effort – but it’s not a good one either.