X+Y

This British funded movie is a great example of film making in the UK and stars Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall and movie ramble favourites Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan. The focus of the movie is Nathan Ellis (Butterfield) who is a maths prodigy coached by a spliff smoking MS sufferer Martin Humphreys (Spall). Nathan is haunted by flash backs of his beloved father who was killed in a car accident. Nathan is unable to connect with his mother Julie (Hawkins) or to relate to people (he’s not missing much there!). National Organiser Richard Grieve (Marsan) wants Nathan to compete for the UK team in the International Mathematical Olympiad taking place in Taiwan. Unaccustomed to mixing with other teenagers of the same age the autistic Nathan finds it a problem integrating with other members of the squad and can’t get to grips with his feeling’s for one of the female Chinese competitors.  

Relationships are never easy in this excellent movie.

This enjoyable and gentle coming of age drama is, I am reliable informed, a sympathetic portrayal of autism. The movie brings to mind Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night Time which also deals with a teenager who knows a very great deal about maths but very little about human beings, in the novel the teenager in question has Asperger’s Syndrome. Rarely does a film convey such sadness about lonely people and what it is like to be categorised as weird. Inspired by his own 2007 BBC documentary Beautiful Young Minds, Morgan Matthews has managed to make a movie which as well as making you smile entices you onto an emotional roundabout that you will find it imposable to get off until the credits.  X+Y (2014) is a story of a wee lad that cuts himself off from the bleak realities of life following his father’s death and buries himself in a private world of numbers and the art of mathematics.  I know what your thinking, “this sounds boring” well I can assure you that it’s far from that!

Still Life.

Director:	Uberto Pasolini
Country:	UK
Year:	2013
Running Time:	87mins
Principle Cast:	Eddie Marsan	John May
	Joanne Froggatt	Kelly Stoke
	Karen Drury	Mary
	Andrew Buchan	Council Manager
	Ciaran McIntyre	Jumbo
	Neil D’Souza	Shakthi

John May has worked for the council for 22 years. His job is to find any remaining relatives or friends of those who have died alone. When there are no next of kin and based on what evidence that Mr May can find at the deceased home he has to decide what type of service these unfortunates should have, burial or cremation and make the arrangements including a short eulogy and what type of music to play. If he is unable to find anyone to attend the funeral service he will go himself. John May loves his work but then one morning his manager tells him that the authority has to cut back so he is being made redundant. Meticulous and organised to the last he asks for extra time to finish his final case. William Stokes lay undiscovered for 40 days in a flat neighbouring John May’s surrounded by little more than empty bottles. Mr May finds a photo album in the flat into which has been carefully placed pictures of what may or maybe not the dead mans daughter? Intrigued he starts his detective work that gradually reveals the life and secrets of William Stokes.

John May stops for a chat.

Starring one of Britain's best character actors Eddie Marsan (my own favourite was Scott the cabby in Mike Leigh’s 2008 Happy Go Lucky) who deservedly won The Award for Best Performance in a British Film at the 2014 EIFF for this role along side the lovely Joanne Froggatt. Directed, written and produced by Luchino Visconti's nephew Uberto Pasolini it was set and shot in London.

The dedicated John May as portrayed by one of the UK's finest character actors.  

As it was only a month since my own mother had died I cannot judge if this movie affected me more than it would other people, but it certainly affected me in away I could not have imagined. Having never really grieved, as my mother and I were not very close, during the film I got very emotional! This is a story about loneliness and death and how when some people pass away there is sadly no one to mourn or attend their funeral service - fortunately this was not the case with my mother but in this uncaring time we live in I am reliably informed that it is not an unusual occurrence. A very brave film that exposes the loneliness of living in a big city and one that looks at death to give the true meaning of life. See also Dreams of a Life (2011)

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.

Filth.

Its not often that a film goes on general release in Scotland before it does in the rest of the UK, at least not before Independence next September, but that’s what happened with Filth (2013) a British crime comedy-drama written and directed by Jon S Baird and based on Irvine Welsh’s third novel of the same name published in 1998. This is Baird’s second feature film after 2008’s Cass the true story of a former football hooligan who became a writer. I suppose that this new film is also about a thug but this time he is a member of the police force!

The nice policeman teaches the wee man some sign language. 

The problems associated with self loathing seems to appear in many of the movies I have watched recently and raises its psychiatric head once more in this every day story of a bigoted, corrupt and substance abusing alcoholic Edinburgh based Scottish Detective, a sort of over the top John Rebus who hates himself to such a degree that he makes nearly every body’s life a misery he comes into contact with.

Obviously part of the investigatiom!

This terrific piece of story telling is the bastard offspring of a three way cinematic shag between Clockwork Orange (1971), Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant (1992) and Trainspotting (1996) and comprises some of the cream of British acting including Joanne Froggatt, Shirley Henderson, Kate Dickie, Eddie Marsan, Jim Broadbent, Martin Compston, Garry Lewis and John Sessions to name but a few. But even in this exhorted company James McAvoy stands out as the bipolar junkie, Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson who when asked by his superior why he joined the police force he replied ‘polices oppression’ ‘did you want to stamp it out from the inside?’ ‘No’ replies Robertson ‘I wanted to be part of it’ which really sums up the character.  

Now there's a man who's not always in control?

It’s a movie that will no doubt divide audiences. As Peter Bradshaw remarked in his critique it amounts to Acid Rain on Leith, but thankfully there’s not a sign of a dance routine although we do get a song from David Soul!

Happy Go Lucky.

Poppy always puts a smile on your face .......

North London Primary School teacher Poppy Cross appears to have one main aim in life, to make everyone she comes in contact with happy, the young children she teaches, Zoe her flat sharing best friend, her two sisters, the slightly out of control younger sister Suzy and her married sister Helen who is heavily pregnant and lives in a semi detached on a moderately new estate in Southend–on-Sea with her husband. In fact every one of her close circle of friends and work colleagues all seem to love this attractive bouncy, zany, full of life 30 year-old Londoner. Well that is until she decides to take driving lessons after her beloved bicycle is stolen. Her instructor Scott turns out to be a very uptight individual and Poppy’s bright disposition only makes things worse.

...except when it comes to her driving instructor!

Happy Go Lucky (2008) is a British comedy drama written and directed by Mike Leigh and a film I have enjoyed many times since its cinematic release. The utter enjoyment of this film comes from Sally Hawkins performance as the unique free spirited, openly generous and funny Poppy spreading warmth and humour like a Pied Piper of Finsbury Park. Her performance lifts the role above the simple comedic into the realms of an inspired character study. Hawkins had previously worked with the director in two other films All or Nothing (2002) and Vera Drake (2004) as well as being nominated for a Best Actress Award in such films as the excellent Made in Dagenham (2010) and Richard Ayoade debut film  Submarine (2011). As is normal with Leigh’s film’s the casting is excellent, especially Eddie Marsan (Tyrannosaur 2011) as the bigoted driving instructor whose relationship with Poppy is central to the narrative.  This is an honest and humane portrayal of modern cosmopolitan London life about openness and love and a film that I can promise will lift your spirits even on the darkest of days.