Polar (2019)

Directed by Jonas Akerlund and written by Jayson Rothwell Polar (2019) is a neo-noir movie based on a comic series of the same name.

Exceptional bloodthirsty and violent with more claret than a French vineyard! It has a great wee twist towards its conclusion that probable a sequel is to follow. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is absolutely brilliant as the man looking forward to collecting his pension, and not  from the Department of Work and Pensions! 

Hated by the critics but loved by home viewers. Catch this outrageous movie on Netflix. 

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. 

The Book Thief.

My opening film at 2014’s Glasgow Film Festival was the Downton Abbey director Brian Percival's The Book Thief (2013). Adapted by Michael Petroni from a best selling novel by Australian author Markus Zusak published in 2005. Narrated by Death and set in Germany during World War 2 it describes 12 year old Liesel Meminger's relationship with her working class foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, after her younger brother dies and her mother has to go into hiding because of her communist beliefs. Liesel also forms a relationship with Rudy Steiner a young blond German boy eight months her senior who falls in love with her the moment they meet. But when Hans decides to repay an old debt by sheltering a young Jew putting the whole family in danger. Meanwhile Liesel's growing love of books leads her to form a relationship with the local Burgomasters wife.

 

A family's safety is put at risk....

....when they hide a young jewish boy in their basement.

The film starts with The Narrator reminding us that 'death is inevitable' but in this observers opinion this rather melodramatic voice over by the English stage actor Roger Allam, who has also appeared in three Ken Loach films including 2012 The Angels Share, is not required because of its daft above the clouds fairy tale approach which does tend to reverberate throughout the movie treating the Nazi persecution of the Jews in a particularly handed fashion. My other problems with Percival's film is that it comes across as very bookish, giving a chapter orientated approach to the story telling, and the films strange combination of English and German accents and on screen subtitles. Bearing in mind that the complete story was shot and filmed in Germany it would have been better to have German actors and therefore subtitles. But let's not take anything away from the cast. Sophie Nelisse plays Liesel, Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson excel as her foster parents with Ben Schnetzer the Jewish refugee Max and Nico Liersch as Rudy. Similar to the Boy in Striped Pyjamas (2008) and Lore (2012) the story is related from a child's prospective.