Bridge of Spies.

The bridge of the title in the latest film directed by Steven Spielberg is The Glienicke Bridge that connects Berlin to Potsdam and was one of many border crossings between the West and the East during the cold war that followed World War 2 and the annexing of Germany.  The eastern part of the bridge is in the West and the western part is in the East, the border between the Socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Capitalist Federal Republic of Germany (DDR)runs through the middle of it. In 1961 following the GDR’s attempt to secure their border the bridge could only be used as a border crossing point for Allied military personnel or if special permission was granted.

 

Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel.

Glienicke Bridge gained fame because it was where ‘agent’ exchanges took place between the USA and the Soviet Union. The most famous of these exchanges was on the 10^th February 1962 between the US U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers, the all American boy who could not follow orders, who was shot down on the 1^st May 1960 and the Soviet Intelligence Officer Colonel Rudolf Ivanovich Abel who was put on trial and accused of spying on the USA from an apartment in New York for a nine year period. Abel whose real name was Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher was born in the United Kingdom in Newcastle upon Tyne he was the son of Russian émigré’s and whose father Heinrich was a Bolshevik freedom fighter.  

 

James B Donovan.

Although it’s this true story that forms the backbone of Bridge of Spies (2015) Spielberg’s movie mainly concentrates on the American insurance lawyer James B Donovan who in 1945 had assisted at the Nuremberg war trials and was tasked with defending Colonel Abel in 1957 and to broker the subsequent prisoner exchange in 1962. The American actor Tom Hanks ably covers this part, but it’s the British actor Mark Rylance who takes all the plaudits for his role as the very likable Colonel Abel.   

 

Glienicke Bridge 10th February 1962

The same bridge on my last visit in August 2012.

This is a rather enjoyable old-fashioned cold war thriller that brings to mind movies like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and is made even better by the script which was co written by Matt Charman and the Coen Brothers. The historical accuracy is obviously stretched – well it is a Hollywood movie – and we get a typical soft US ending just like we did with Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012) but I would still recommend you to see this movie if for no other reason than to spend an enjoyable couple of hours in your local cinema.  

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

Warmest thanks to Julie Russell for allowing a Film Club In House evening to take place in her, and daughter Megan’s home along with a big thank you for some fine food and drink. The evening started with a re-showing of the tribute film for Darren Conner that Alec Barclay produced for the final film of the last session of the RBC film club on Monday 27^th June. Following some refreshment’s we started the main feature. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007) the last directorial duty of Sidney Lumet’s before he died in 2011. This crime drama was written by Kelly Masterson, a former Franciscan Brother who left the seminary just short of his ordination in order to pursue a career in the theatre. The movie features a highly proficient cast including such well-known names as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Morisa Tomei, Amy Ryan and Spider-Mans mum Rosemary Harris.

Its non-linear plot starts with a nerve-racking robbery at a family run suburban jewellery store, which goes disastrously wrong.  What follows is an investigation into how close family members are affected by this crime. The film is more intriguing than your average crime drama due to it’s strong story line and how it goes back and forth in time allowing us an insight into the reasons for the robbery and demonstrating the pressures and frustrations that affect each member of the family.  A fine evenings entertainment coupled with some great conversation that ended with a discussion on the films of Doris Day!!!

Win Win

Its official, Tom McCarty is now high on my favourite directors list. How is it possible for one director/writer to follow up one of my most loved independent American movies The Station Agent (2003) with the almost equally brilliant The Visitor (2008) and maintain the same high quality with his third film Win Win (2011).

Poster.

All three films deal basically with human relationships, in The Station Agent we are introduced to three characters. Fin McBride (Peter Dinklage) a loner with a passion for trains who on the death of his friend and employer inherits an abandoned train depot in the middle of nowhere, but his peace is shattered when he discovers that the owner of the hot dog van parked next to his new home, Joe Oramas, (Bobby Cannavale) has an insatiable hunger for conversation. The third person in this very moving comedy drama is Olivia Harris (Patricia Clarkson) a distracted artist who is still trying to cope with the sudden death of her young son two years earlier.  Three people who on the surface have nothing in common but are entwined together into a credible friendship by the McCarthy’s BAFTA award winning screenplay.

In The Visitor McCarthy deals with the stark realities of the US immigration system when Walter Vale, an economics professor, discovers a young couple living in his flat when he travels to New York City on college business. The pair, unaware that they have been illegally renting it, are allowed to stay, with Walter striking up a friendship with Tarek, who shortly after gets detained as an illegal immigrant. Matters get increasingly emotionally involving for Walter when the detainees mother arrives. For his role as Walter, Richard Jenkins was quite rightly nominated for Best Actor in the 2009 Academy Awards.

The coach at work.

For his third film McCarthy has written and directed a simple affecting story of decent people that can at a divisive time in their lives act out of self-interest. Win Win (2011) elicits great humour from what can only be described as everyday situations. Mike Flaherty, convincingly played by Paul Giamatti, is a struggling small town New Jersey lawyer and the coach of the local high schools failing wrestling team. In order to improve his finances he agrees to become the legal guardian of Leo Poplar (Burt Young) a wealthy new client with early stage dementia and apparently no self-admitting relatives. But instead of allowing Leo to stay in his own home Mike places him in the 

local care home pocketing the fee for his upkeep. Its not all bad news when Leo’s 16-year old grandson Kyle (Alex Shaffer in his debut role) turns up to stay with his granddad, having given up on his mother who is in drug rehabilitation and her abusive live-in boyfriend, he turns out to a youth wrestling champion with whom Mike and his two fellow coaches (Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor) hope than can turn around the fortunes of their rather dire wrestling squad. The every more familiar Amy Ryan gives great support as Mikes long suffering but compassionate wife Jackie. Maybe not quite as life affirming as his first film but still an exceptional example of American independent cinema.