To the Wonder.

Mont St. Michel enriches the romance of Neil and Marina.

Normally I would not give away too much of a movies plot, but in the case of To the Wonder (2012) I feel a little prior knowledge could help understand what

 transpires on the screen!

Neil (Ben Affleck) is an American traveling in Europe who meets and falls in love with Marina (Olga Kurylenko), a Ukrainian divorcee who is raising her 10-year-old daughter Tatiana in Paris. The lovers travel to Mont St. Michel, the island abbey off the coast of Normandy, basking in the wonder of their newfound romance.  Neil makes a commitment to Marina, inviting her to relocate to his native Oklahoma with Tatiana. He takes a job as an environmental inspector and Marina settles into her new life in America with passion and vigour. After a short while, their relationship cools. Marina finds solace in the company of another exile, the Catholic priest Father Quintana (Javier Bardem), who is undergoing a crisis of faith. Work pressures and increasing doubt pull Neil further apart from Marina, who returns to France with Tatiana when her visa expires. Neil reconnects with Jane (Rachel McAdams), an old flame. They fall in love until Neil learns that Marina has fallen on hard times. Gripped by a sense of responsibility, and his own crisis of faith, he renews his association with Marina after another trip to France. She returns with him to Oklahoma, resuming her American life.[1]

 

Neil and his childhood sweetheart Jane on the plains of Oklahoma.

Although Malick is credited with writing the script for this movie, it has been alleged that the cast worked without a screenplay. Not difficult considering that this abstract romantic drama has no real dialog. It consists mainly of narration spoken in French and Spanish from two of the films main characters, the Ukrainian divorcee Marina and the Catholic priest Father Quintana. The film certainly does not fall into what could be described as a normal narrative format and anyone expecting to see a plot driven romance: forget it!

There is no doubt that the seventy year old Terrence Malick is a very unique filmmaker and like his last film Tree of Life (2010) his latest cinematic offering is a joy to look at. Mexican born Emmanuel Lubezki is the Director of Photography on both these films and they certainly benefit from his masterful touch. It brings to mind Antonioni’s Red Desert (1964).

 

A conflict of faith for Father Quintana.

Malick’s film was the final review of the American film critic Roger Ebert before his death on April 4^th from which I borrow a quote ‘Malick, who is surely one of the most romantic and spiritual of filmmaker, appears almost naked here before his audience, a man not able to conceal the depth of his vision’[2] I could not agree more, the movie does appear autobiographical and encourages the viewer to feel the pain of the protagonists. A movie not necessary for every one, but one that does emphasise the craft of an immensely skilful filmmaker.

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[1] Written with the help of the synopsis from the press notes that do give a clear outline of the story.

[2] Roger Ebert 6^th April 2013 Chicago Sun-Times 

Skyfall.

The Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre Dumfries Scotland.

On the 3^rd November 2012 the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre celebrated 25 years of exceptional and friendly customer service coupled with screenings of some of the best movies made over that period from all over the world and from every different genre including documentary’s and feature films which in turn has given the film loving public in Dumfries and Galloway, South West Scotland a opportunity to broaden their understanding, their appreciation and their love of cinema. This grand occasion was commemorated by a martini and champagne reception that encouraged a James Bond character dress theme.

The previous evening the RBC Film Club along with civic dignities had been invited by The Leader and Members of Dumfries and Galloway Council to attend the Film Theatre for a civic reception. Hosted by film theatre staff past and present, various speeches were made giving us, the guests, an interesting outline to the previous 25 years, before the new Film Officer Tom Benson articulated the final few words of the evening we were shown an amusingly and well-made local short film. Filmed at the Dumfries Academy and called Vampire Musical it demonstrated how home-grown talent is encouraged and importance of the RBC at giving locally made films their first public performance. 

Happy birthday Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre and many more of them. Now back to its most important business: the films.

A world weary James Bond.

Its strange how a film can make you feel like a young teenager, waiting eagerly in your cinema seat for the lights to go down and the film to begin and consequently following the twists and turns of an exciting and action filled narrative from the pre-title sequence right up to the films exhilarating conclusion and watching the final credits to discover you have just spent a speedy 140 minutes traveling the world. Of course the film I refer to is the latest outing for 007 himself Mr James Bond, licenced to kill on behalf of Her Majesties Government. Skyfall (2012) is the 23^rd film in a successful 50 year franchise and with its unrelenting action sequences that barely purse for breath, a story that grips you by the throat and a film that takes you back to the very essence of Ian Fleming’s Bond, it’s one of the best. 

M

Raoul Silva.

Sam Mendes first outing as a Bond director has been widely praised as a more psychological complex character study than previously seen with it’s closer connections to M (the formidable Judi Dench) and returning our hero back to his Scottish roots. But don’t panic you still get the normal mix of beautiful women, explosions, chases, shootouts, a certain amount of brand promotion and of course fancy cars including a very welcome guest appearance, cheered by the RBC audience, of the Aston Martin DB5 that first appeared in Goldfinger in 1964. In his third outing as the British agent Daniel Craig has really staked a claim to be the best participant in this great role, looking older and a little dog-eared he can still pull if off.  After being absent in the previous two films we get Q back in the form of Ben Whishaw who plays the part with just the right amount of geekyness. But as with all the Bond films we expect a villain of merit and we are not disappointed. The well known Spanish actor Javier Bardem appears as Raoul Silva, one of the most unsettling villains we have seen in a Bond film, a cross between Anton Chigurh, who he played in the Coen Brothers film of No Country for Old Men (2007), and Robert Shaw’s Red Grant the blond haired SPECTRE assassin in From Russia With Love (1963). 

Severine (Berenice Lim Marlohe) 

Eve (Naomie Harris)

Photographed by probably the best DOP in the world Roger Deakins whose third film this is for Mendes, but best known for the eleven films he made with the Coen Brothers. The best scenes are these filmed in London and Scotland going from the drab moody streets of our capital city to the beautiful landscapes of Glen Etive in the Highlands of Scotland. This is not a film to be missed, it’s a film to be enjoyed allowing the thirteen year old in us all to dream of being a secret agent, driving the most expensive cars in the world and consulting with attractive women, although I am convinced there will be a female 007 one day, I can still dream and forget Cameron’s broken Briton for a couple of hours.

and not forgetting Q.

Biutiful

The Director.

Some director’s work moves you more than others, Mexican born Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has done that with all his films to date. His debut, the Spanish language Amores perros (2000) involved a car accident in Mexico City that brilliantly interweaves the stories of the three victims involved, a young man who has fallen in love with his brothers wife, a beautiful Mexican model for whom physical appearance is of the utmost importance and a former political assassin. 21 Grams (2003), which was nominated for two acting Academy Awards, is a critically acclaimed thriller, again involving a horrific accident that binds three peoples lives together a story involving passion, obsession and revenge. His third movie takes place in Mexico, Japan, Morocco and the United States Babel (2006) similar to the first two in that it concerns interconnecting stories, it begins with the purchasing of a rifle that leads to a gripping chain of events. This engaging movie won Inarritu a Best Director award at the Cannes film Festival.

The family man.

All his work to date reveals the cause and effects of people’s actions and this weeks RBC Film Club offering was no exception. Biutiful (2010) Inarritu’s second Spanish language film is the story of the love between a single father and his two children and sacrifices he’s prepared to make for them.  Uxbal’s life is not easy, a bipolar ex-wife, a murderous business partner and various failing illegal enterprises and if that’s not bad enough he has terminal cancer something he is trying to hide from his children.

The actor.

With the look of South American cinema rather than one filmed in parts of Barcelona that the tourists don’t normally see, this is a film on a different level from your normal multiplex offering and will, undeservedly, no doubt be seen by only by those prepared to look outside the boring mainstream. Javier Bardem gives the performance of career as the very believable Uxbal and it is of no surprise to this viewer that this great Spanish actor was nominated for Best Actor in this years Academy Awards, the only surprise is that he did not win it! This is one of the most moving and deeply sensed film’s I have had the pleasure of watching for a long time and I would suggest you move heaven and earth to see this emotional study of Spain’s poverty ruled classes.