The Lobster.

I agree with Peter Bradshaw when he writes that The Lobster (2015) “appears to run out of idea’s at its mid point”[1] It’s a film of two halves the first holds your attention but the second half can not be accused of the same.  The films turning point comes when the main character escapes the confines of the hotel and joins the loners in the woods. This dark dystopian satire is the work of Greek born Yorgos Lanthimos who has directed and produced some of the most atypical but enjoyable movies of the last few years including the chilling fairy tale Dogtooth in 2009 which deservedly won the Prix Un Certain Regard at 2009’s Cannes Film Festival, the strangely watchable Alps in 2011 and also worked as co producer on the appealing Attenberg (2010) one of Movie Rambles most blogged movies. As is quite normal with films that involve Lanthimos the synopsis makes strange reading….

 

David with the Lisping Man and the Limping Man.

Sexual relief can only be administered by the Maid.

It’s the present, we are somewhere in a mysterious Europe country. David’s (Colin Farrell) wife has left him and we find him in a hotel where the rules state that if you don’t find a compatible ‘mate’ within 45 days you will be turned into an animal of your choice, in David’s case a lobster. David is there with his brother who has previously been turned into a dog. The Hotel Manager (Olivia Colman) sets the rules and they must be obeyed. Sexual relief by masturbation is not allowed but sexual stimulation by the hotel Maid (Ariane Labed) is. Dances are arranged so that partners can be viewed but to form a qualifying partnership with someone you must have something in common with each other. Everyone can extend their stay affording extra time to find a partner by hunting and tranquilizing escapees known as Loners who live in the nearby woods.  David decides to escape from the hotel and join the band of Loners lead by Loner Leader (Lea Seydoux). Here in the woods the rules are different. Above all they must remain single, romance and sex in any form is not allowed. Deviation from the rules is punishable by violence. 

 

Davids getting to know the Nosebleed Women....

....before joining the Loners and disobeying their rules.

You would certainly have to see the film to understand Lanthimos’s script and even then the movie probable requires more than a single viewing to fully understand the intricacies of this strangely hypnotic story.  The film has a great cast list, as well as these already mentioned it includes Rachel Weisz as the Short Sighted Woman, the lovely Jessica Barden as the Nosebleed Woman, Ben Whishaw as the Limping Man and old friend of Movie Ramble Michael Smiley as Loner Swimmer. Of all the films involving Yorgos Lanthimos that I have seen this is not his best work, interesting but not quite up there with his previous movies. It’s a real shame that the second half of the film was not as good as the first or it could have been one of his best outings.

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[1] The Guardian 18^th May 2015.

Spectre.

Daniel Craig, as I suspected he would be, is the best of all the six actors who have portrayed Ian Fleming’s Secret Service Agent with the licenced to kill code number - James Bond 007. Agreeing to take up the role in 2005 his first outing as Bond was in Casino Royale (2006), which was the beginning of a reboot of the Bond franchise. This was followed two years later with Quantum of Solace (2008) and then what was to my mind the best of the Bond films to date, Skyfall (2012) bringing in Sam Mendes to direct proved to be an ingenious move, as it became the highest grossing film in the complete series. Keeping Mendes on as director for Craig’s fourth outing as the MI6 agent was certainly the right decision. 

Some nice product placement....

As fans are aware the previous M (Judy Dench) died at the end of Skyfall and we met the new M in the form of Ralph Fiennes. Also returning are Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny and Ben Whishaw as the technical wizard Q whose relationship with Bond is just one of the films many highlight’s.  The movie starts with what has got to be one of the best pre credit sequences of any of the bond films. We are in Mexico City and The Day of the Dead carnival is taking place, 1000’s of people are on the streets dressed as various characters associated with the yearly event. Bond, dressed in a skeleton suit, is off to a hotel room with a beautiful woman but before she can hang up her frock he is out and across the rooftops attempting to assassinate Marco Sciarra, suspected of being involved in a terrorist bomb plot. What follows is as an exciting action sequence ending with a fight in a moving helicopter over the heads of the vast crowd. This sets the tone for the remainder of the movie.

.... a  beautiful woman who can use a weapon....

The film cleverly harks back to previous Bond movies and as well as explaining the origins of international criminal syndicate and terrorist organisation Spectre (Special Executive for Counter Intelligence, terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) and its evil mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld, there’s reference to Bonds only real love Vesper Lynd, an appearance of Mr White (Jesper Christenson) but this time we also get to meet his daughter Doctor Madeleine Swann played by the French actress Lea Seydoux. Also involved in the mayhem are Andrew Scott as C, Christoph Waltz as Franz Oberhauser and not forgetting Monica Bellucci as the widow of Marco Sciarra.      

 

....and not forgetting a villain.... 

Lets hope that Spectre (2015) is not Mr Craig’s last outing as Bond and that perhaps the Craig/Mendes partnership can be persuaded to give it another go. As with the best of the Bond movies this latest outing does not take itself to seriously and the only real demand it makes of its audience is to sit back and enjoy, and enjoyable it certainly is.   

....all goes to make a great Bond film.

Grand Central.

Although interestingly described as a romantic drama set against the dangers of the nuclear power industry, Grand Central (2013) was a wee bit of a let down. Co-written and directed by Rebecca Zlotowski it does however have a powerful cast headed up by Lea Seydoux who won very high praise in one of the best films of 2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour and Tahar Rahim who was in the award winning French prison drama A Prophet (2009) and also took the lead in Free Men (2011) which tells the largely untold story of the role the Muslims played in the French resistance and the rescue of Jews from under the noses of the German occupation.

 

Illicit meetings by the river. 

Gary Manda (Rahim) is an unskilled and therefore expendable worker who gets a job in a nuclear power plant to clean and repair nuclear reactors. He works under the supervision of veteran Gilles (Oliver Gourment), a man whose family has left him because of the pressures of his job, and Toni (Denis Menochet) who lives with, and plans to marry, Karole (Seydoux) an attractive sad looking women who also works at the plant. Radiation contamination is a daily risk and if a workers radiation levels rise they not only loose their job but there is a good chance of getting a cancer related disease. Adding to this sense of danger Gary has fallen for Karole whose illicit meeting’s on the riverbank has not gone unnoticed by the other men.

Testing radiation levels.

This is unfortunately an unfulfilling film that promises a lot but delivers little considering the importance attached to its subject matter. The story does not really go anywhere and is difficult to follow at times. But Rebecca Zlotowski should be commended for showing us a world that the majority of us were unaware of.

Blue is the Warmest Colour.

Quintessentially this weeks Film Club screening at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre was a meaningful love story between two people who find one another and fall in and out of love, sounds pretty normal so why has this French film coursed so much controversy? Perhaps it’s the fact that the story involves two young women falling in love and not the so-called acceptable norm of male and female?  Well thankfully we are beginning to live in a more enlightened society and even here in Scotland legislation was passed in February 2014 allowing same sex marriage, which at present only awaits Royal Assent. The first same sex marriages are expected in the autumn.

The graphic novel.

The host for Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013) was Alec Barclay who gave a short introduction explaining that as the film was a little over three hours long the discussion that normal follows the Monday night screenings would take place after next weeks film, something I’m sure we are all looking forward too. Alex explained that this intimate story was based on a French graphic novel written by Julie Maroh and originally called Blue Angel set at the end of the 1990’s. An English language edition was published last year. Directed and co-written by Abdellatif Kechiche, whose previous film Couscous (2007) was shown at the RBCTF in 2008. As I remember it was a rather slow paced movie but one with a fine cast and a story that involved a 61 year old disillusioned ship worker whose family rallies round to help him realise his dream of setting up a floating Couscous restaurant. Tonight’s film stars newcomer Adèle Exarchopoulos as Adele and Léa Seydoux, an experienced young actress you may has seen in films as varied as Inglourious Basterds (2009) and the period drama Mysteries of Lisbon (2010) as Emma.

 

Loneliness is something we can all empathise with. 

Our host went on to inform us that tonight’s film had so far won 43 awards and had been nominated for a further 29. These included the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In an unorthodox move it is the first film to have it awarded to both the director and the two lead actresses who shared the award for Best Film becoming the only women apart from Jane Campion (The Piano 1993) to have ever won the prize.  On being asked how the decision had come about to include the two leading ladies, along with the director, for the Palme d’Or, Steven Spielberg explained as follows: It was such an obvious important inclusion, because of the synergy created by the maître en scène and the characters of Adèle and Emma. Had the casting been 3% wrong it would not have worked like it did for us. Had anything been a little left of centre it would not have had such a positive resolution. It was the perfect choice between these two actresses and this incredible, very sensitive and observant filmmaker. So we really felt, all of us felt that we needed to invite all three artists up on stage at the same time[1].

 

Emma....

.... and Adele....

This coming of age drama ranks as Peter Bradshaw’s best film of 2013 although it has coursed an awful lot of controversy. As well as its subject matter that obviously coursed problems for some people, its seven-minute sex scene would have certainly raised a few eyebrows amongst more conservative filmgoers.  The more serious controversy involved the crew who criticised the working conditions citing the ‘heavy’ atmosphere in production, with behaviour close to moral harassment that lead to some members of the crew to quit. Also the two lead actresses complained about the director’s behaviour during the shooting and have made it clear they will not work with him again.

 

....a  couple very much in love.

But putting all this to one side we have been privileged with a truly exquisite piece of filmmaking.  Beautifully photographed with some superb up close and personnel camerawork and a great soundtrack. But sitting on a pinnacle above all this are two really outstanding performances from Adèle Exarchopoulos and the blue haired Léa Seydoux. Both make their love affair seem so realistic portraying what it must be like to discover that you are in love with someone of the same sex and not really sure of your sexual orientation and what the pressures must be like to enable you to ‘come out’. The movie is at times emotionally draining and the ending is so ambiguous it almost brings you to tears. Give yourself a cinematic treat and see this marvellous film, see it on a double bill with The Great Beauty (2013), you won’t regret it.

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[1] Steven Spielberg who headed the Jury which included Daniel Auteuil, Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee, Christain Mungiu and our own Lynne Ramsay.