Gods Pocket.

Hands up time, I have never seen an episode of the critically acclaimed TV series Mad Men, there you are I’ve admitted it! But I do know that it’s set in the 1960’s and its about an advertising agency, and of course I’m aware of some of the actors that are involved including John Slattery and the rather attractive redhead Christina Hendricks.  The reason I mention this is twofold, firstly Slattery has now directed and adapted his first feature film, Gods Pocket (2013) with Hendricks taking the main female lead. It is based on a novel by Pete Dexter who was also responsible for writing and incidentally adapting, Paperboy (2012) for the big screen.

 

Mr and Mrs Scarpato.

Set in 1978 Gods Pocket is a run down district of Philadelphia. An area that seems to accommodate the very underside of humanity, if there not spending there time in the street corner bar there running wee crooked scams for the local ‘connected’ hood Sal Cappi. That is until Jeanie Scarpato (Hendricks) son Leon, gets killed in mysterious circumstances in the construction yard where he works. Jeanie is married to Mickey (the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman) who is Leon’s stepfather and who we first see highjacking a meat truck with Arthur Capezio known as Bird (John Turturro) and Sal. Mickey, who was not born in Gods Pocket and therefore will always be an incomer, will do anything to please his beautiful wife so when she asks him to find out how her rather nasty drug addicted racialist son died, she does not believe it was an accident, he sets out with the help of Bird and Sal to investigate the events leading up to her boys demise. When the journalist Richard Shellburn (the scene stealing Richard Jenkins) hears about Leon’s death he requests an interview with Jeanie for the local paper, on meeting her he immediately falls in love! Meanwhile Mickey is arranging a funeral, with the local undertaker Smilin’ Jack Moran (British actor Eddie Marsan) but is having problems raising the $5000 to keep Jeanie happy!   

 

Local reporter Richard Shellburn.

This is an absolutely cracking movie that should not be missed, if you have not seen it at the cinema then you will have to wait for the DVD release in December 2014. But believe me its well worth it and not just to see Philip Seymour Hoffman in one of his last films but also to enjoy the clever casting, even in the smaller roles, that enables the portrayal of some terrific characters.  American movies always seem to succeed when they show realistic situations and include people that don’t subscribe to the American dream! A worthy debut from John Slattery.

A Most Wanted Man.

One of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last roles as Gunther Backmann

This adaptation by Andrew Bovell of a John le Carre’s 2008 post 9/11 novel of the same name is one of Philip Seymour’s Hoffman’s last films and just goes to prove how much we will miss this great actor. Hoffman plays Gunter Bachmann the hard drinking, heavy smoking head of a German anti terrorist team based in Hamburg which is charged with developing sources within the Islamic community to assist with counter intelligence work. Tension’s run high after the World Trade Centre attack so when the half Chechen, half Russian 26 year old Issa Karpov turns up at Hamburg airport looking a little worse for wear not only is Bachmann interested in the young man but also is the head of Hamburg intelligence Dieter Mohr (Rainer Bock) and the CIA in the form of Agent Martha Sullivan (Robin Wright).  Karpov claims to be in Germany to collect an inheritance worth tens of millions of euro’s left to him by his father and kept in a safe deposit box under the watchful eye of the Head of Bank Tommy Brue (Willem Dafoe). The only person that seems to believe Karpov is the human rights lawyer Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams).

Annabel Richter with Issa Karpov.

A Most wanted Man (2013) is a contemporary tale of intrigue one in which the modern intelligence agencies are shown to be completely paranoid about any one that even slightly resembles what they assume to be Jihadist and therefore by default a terrorist.  This was my final film of the 2014 EIFF and I was tired and found the film a little to long so I will not be too judgemental and just comment that the acting was as you would expect from such a good cast very good and Anton Corbijn’s (Control 2007, The American 2010) direction and Benoit Delhomme (Lawless 2012) cinematography brought the story to life. A movie I'd like to see again. 

Capote.

This story of the events that took place during the writing of Truman Capote’s pioneering work of the ‘true crime’ genre In Cold Blood was probable Philip Seymour Hoffman’s greatest film. For his role as the author he won five best actor awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.

In Cold Blood is a true account of a multiple murder that took place in Holcomb, Kansas in 1959. The victims were farmer Herbert Clutter, his wife and two of their four children. The film Capote (2005) follows Truman and his close friend and research assistant the American novelist Nelle Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) from when the news first broke of the murders, up until the culprit’s execution some five years later. It attempts to define the strange relationship that developed between Capote and the emotionally detached Perry Smith, a sad and lonely man who, it was proved, actually killed the Clutter’s.

 

Hoffman with Catherine Keener.

Although a very challenging role we again find that Hoffman has actual become his character, the mannerisms, the voice and the way he moves. He manages to bring out Capote’s personality and makes us, the viewer, completely spell bound and we are totally convinced of the strengths and weaknesses of the man. He gives us a believable insight into how the author, a man fascinated by people, wins over the suspicious Holcomb locals, the police chief and his wife and the two men who committed the horrendous crime.

 

Truman Copote.

Perry Smith and his accomplice .

Directed by Bennett Miller (Moneyball 2011) and written by Dan Futterman who based his story on Gerald Clarke’s biography of the same name.  The static camerawork of Adam Kimmel and the muted palate with no blues or reds was brilliantly worked to heighten the audience’s acute awareness. Shot on location in Winnipeg with a small budget and little time, but what we get is a masterpiece in characterisation from an actor who will be sorely missed, but who thankfully left us a body of work that I fully intend to return too from time to time just to remind me how it should be done.

Magnolia.

A timely revisit to a film I have not seen for many years, timely because of the sudden and surprising death of one of modern cinema’s best actors. The film is the 1996 American satirical drama Magnolia and the actor is of course Philip Seymour Hoffman who won the Supporting Actor Award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, one of the oldest award bodies, for his role as Nurse Phil Parma. 

The film was directed by the award winning Paul Thomas Anderson who has regularly worked with Hoffman on films which included The Master (2012) for which Hoffman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Hard Eight (1996) an American neo-noir crime thriller, Boogie Nights in 1997 the story of a porn star known by the name of Dirk Diggler who became famous because of his extraordinarily large penis and Punch Drunk Love (2002).

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Nurse Phil Parma.

Written by Anderson Magnolia is a magnificent multi layered film with some superb imaginative camera work from cinematographer Robert Elswit. It almost defies a description other than to explain it as a mosaic of interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness and meaning in modern day San Fernando.   A sadly comedic piece that at times can have you near to tears and others times can almost have you rolling in the aisle’s. Although all the actors are at peak form, which includes Tom Cruise, Hoffman steals every scene he is in, playing against Jason Robards as the dying Earl Partridge, not an easy task. He inhabits his character something he did in all his movies. Film fans will miss this man, but thankfully he left us a superb body of work that we can revisit to remind us of the skill Philip Seymour Hoffman brought to his roles. RIP  

A Late Quartet.

Written and directed by American Yaron Silberman whose only previous screen work was an award-winning documentary called Watermarks made in 2004. It related the true story of the Hokoah Vienna Jewish women’s swim team of the 1930’s, their forced separation and their reunion decades later. His first feature film is A Late Quartet (2012), a colourful interpretation of four classical musicians who over the years have grown to rely on each other far too much, and like the preverbal pack of cards, when one falls the others will follow.

The Fugue String Quartet is internationally acclaimed, based in New York they have been playing classical music together for 25 years. The four members consist of cellist Peter Mitchell (Christopher Walken in an unfamiliar role that takes some getting use to) a quiet man whose life has been affected by the recent death of his concert-singing wife from cancer. The second violinist is Robert Gelbert  (Philip Seymour Hoffman) whose ambition to be first violinist has never been fulfilled. He’s married to the quartet’s viola player Juliette (the always superb Catherine Keener) who have been together since their student days. The 40-year-old couple have a daughter Alex (Imogen Poots) who is also a student of music and plays the violin. The fourth member of the quartet is the technically brilliant first violinist Daniel Lerner (Mark Ivanir) an intense man who also teaches Alex violin.

 

Christopher Walken as Peter Mitchell.

Peter announces he has been diagnosed with early signs of Parkinson’s disease a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that in due course will end his ability to play music. This bombshell throws the remaining members of the quartet in to disarray leading them to question their fears, hopes and futures. 

This intelligent film starts rather slowly but eventually when it kicks into emotional overdrive it does take off.  The acting is first rate as you would expect from a high-powered ensemble cast and for lovers of Beethoven’s Op 131 for String Quartet this is defiantly your movie. The cinematography of Frederick Elmes, who was responsible for the camera work in Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), is the real star of the film highlighting the beauty of mid winter in New Yorks Central Park and contrasting this with the warmth and splendor of the interior shots. 

New Yorks Central Park in winter.

The Master.

The rather interesting poster.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s previous body of work includes There Will Be Blood (2007) and Magnolia (1999), which I believe is still his best film to date. His latest offering is The Master (2012) which has received a great deal of praise from the critic’s and has gained a much-lorded position in many of the ‘Best Of’ lists for 2012. The only reason I can see for such acclaim is the quality of the performances from its highly rated cast and its period detail that allows a really classy glimpse at 1950’s America and its middle class. But I’m afraid Anderson’s script is just not good enough for such a complex story, it did not draw you in and hold your attention which made the 137 minute running time seem even longer than it actually was.

Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Quall.

The film’s central character is an ex Word War 11 veteran Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) who is struggling to adjust to post war society. When Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the leader of a philosophical movement known as ‘The Cause’ comes across the alcoholic Quell he see’s something in this strange gait figure. The film basically deals with the relationship between two very different men. 

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lancaster Dodds.

After the catastrophe that was I'm Still Here (2010), one of the very rare films which I have left before the end, I could not imagine that Joaquin Phoenix would ever redeem him self in my eyes. But his performance as Quell is totally believable gaining him a very well deserved nomination for Best Actor in January’s Golden Globes, which in it’s self is a good pointer for Februarys Academy Awards.  Hoffman should also get nominated for Best Male Support at the Oscars for a role that’s said to be based on L. Ron Hubbard who founded the Church of Scientology in the 1950’s. Also well worth a mention is Amy Adams, who plays Peggy Dodd, Lancaster’s supportive wife, who is rapidly becoming one of America’s best actresses. The rather pleasing soundtrack has been composed by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood who has previously composed music for another of Andersons films Let There Be Blood as well as the intriguing Norwegian Wood (2010) and Lynne Ramsay’s Oscar neglected We Need To Talk About Kevin (2010). Personally I would swop some of the beautifully looking camera work by Romanian cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. for a story line that engaged my undivided attention: disappointing. 

The superb Amy Adams as Peggy Dodd.