Cold in July.

I hate to admit it but this American independent film is too date one of the best films I have seen at the 2014 EIFF, head and shoulders above many of the others. A cracking action packed film with three excellent performances from lead stars Michael C Hall, the always-great Sam Shepard and especially Don Johnson who particularly stands out. Why is Cold in July (2013) so good? Its action packed, its almost two hour running times just fly’s by - never a hint of a sore backside  - full of humour, well co-written and directed by Jim Mickle whose last film was the remake of the Mexican horror movie We Are What We Are (2010).

 

A grand threesome. 

Set in East Texas in 1989. Mild mannered family man Richard Dane (Hall) sleeping next to his wife with his young son sleeping in the next room, hears an intruder. He gets his father old gun and proceeds down the stairs to find an unarmed intruder Freddy Russell about to rob his home. Pointing the gun at the masked man it goes off spaying blood and brains all over the furniture, the wall and a large painting hanging there with. The police do not seem too concerned and put it down as self-defence. Shortly after the incident the local police in the form of Lieutenant Ray Price (co-screenwriter Nick Damici) inform Dane that Freddy Russell’s father Ben (Shepard), a violent man by all accounts, has been given parole from prison and that he planning a little eye for an eye action! Its not until things take a strange turn that Richard Dane is forced into a unlikely alliance with Freddy’s father and the flamboyant private eye and pig farmer Jim Bob Luke (Johnston) and things begin to get a little out of hand.

Don Johnson arrive at the premiere in Edinburgh. 

My best recommendation is to just go and see this movie, if for nothing else to enjoy the on screen banter between Shepard and Johnston, you will not be disappointed.

Out of the Furnace.

Some filmgoers will argue that to much attention is given to the soundtrack, with some commending the idea that music in a film is not required but I would put forward an argument that it depends on the movie. For example would Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) be such a great film without a soundtrack, would Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) be quite so haunting and obviously I could go on. Well get to the point I can hear you saying - ok. Scott Coopers follow up film to the award winning Crazy Heart (2009) has a soundtrack that really compliments what we see on the screen. Even without the Pearl Jam track Release that plays over both the opening and closing credits, it's Dickon Hinchliffe’s score that really underpins the gritty and grim atmosphere in an already atmospheric film, Hinchliffe was a founder of Tindersticks who were credited with six soundtracks for French director Claire Denis including 35 rhums (2008) and White Material (2010). Out of the Furnace (2013) runs the gauntlet of emotions in a film that harps back to the great tradition of tough American movies.  A cross fertilisation between the inbred inhabitants of Winters Bone (2009), the belligerent spirit of The Fighter (2010) and the bleak steelworks setting's and blue collar approach of Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) is where I see this movie drawing its influences.

 

Russell Baze.

Co-written by Cooper, the movie is set in Braddock, Pittsburgh in 2008. Basically it's the story of two brothers Russell and Rodney Baze. Russell is a hardworking man who cares deeply for his family, girlfriend Lena Taylor, his dying father and of course his troubled brother. Russell works at the local steel mill while his brother is in the army, deployed to Iran four times which has done nothing to improve his state of mind. While on leave he has run up gambling debts with the local crime boss John Petty and has to resort to bare- knuckle fighting in an attempt to pay this off. This in turn leads to his involvement with Harlan DeGroat an evil drug addicted psychopath who gets off on extreme violence. Meanwhile the hard working Russell is sent to prison for a drink driving accident. When he is released the close confines of his world have crumpled, his father is dead, Rodney is throwing fights and Lena has left him for the local cop and is now pregnant.       

 

Rodney Baze.

Be warned this is a violent film right from the opening scene in the drive in movie, up to its gripping climax. Cooper even describes it as ‘an examination of the nature of violence in a society where men solve their own problems'. Certainly an interesting concept and it may sound a familiar story with its Cane and Abel complex reworked, i.e. the good and bad side of the same coin, but don't be fooled this is a brilliantly made movie with a story that never allows the viewer to look away from the screen. DOP Masanobu Takayanagi cinematography captures a vanishing way of life with its deep sense of Americana and the economic decline of industrial America and it's effect on the population of once thriving community but still managing to find beauty in what has essentially become a depressing place. 

       

Harlan DeGroat.

                                                                                                                                           

The director has been quoted as saying that it was important for the film's credibility that it was shoot on location in the town of Braddock and he was proved right. He is obviously a man who has a clear vision of what he wanted from the films strong cast. Even the smaller parts are taken by some very experienced actors including Sam Shepard as Uncle 'Red' Baze and Forest Whitaker as Police Officer Wesley Barnes both of whom make a great job of there minimal time on screen. Willem Defoe plays John Petty a manipulating villain with a sympathetic streak with Woody Harrelson in award winning form as Harlan DeGroat a vicious man who admits to having a problem with everyone! The only female lead is Zoe Saldana as the Russell/Wesley love interest, Saldana will be seen later this year as Nina Simone in the biopic of her life. That just leaves our two main leads, Casey Affleck plays the war veteran Rodney Baze with just the right amount of calculated tension and Christian Bale, riveting as Russell, in what is probably one of his best performances - certainly worthy of consideration for an Award at next years Academy Awards.  It’s not often that I watch a movie twice within a few days!

August: Osage County.

Yet another Oscar nominated film filled the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre Film Club slot. This time it was a movie that was nominated for two awards, one for Best Actress for Meryl Streep and the other was for Best Supporting Actress for Julia Roberts. Introduced by Audrey Young August: Osage County (2013) is an American produced black comedy drama which not only boosts the acting talents of Streep (who I am not always keen on) as the pill popping matriarch Violet Weston and Roberts as Barbara the eldest of her three daughters, but an unbelievable all star ensemble cast which includes Julianne Nicholson and Juliette Lewis as her other two daughters Ivy and Karen, Ewan McGregor as Barbara’s estranged husband Bill with Abigail Breslin as there 14 year old daughter. Sam Shepard plays Violets husband Beverly while Margo Martindale plays Violets sister Mattie Fae and Chris Cooper plays Mattie Fae’s husband with their son little Charlie Aitken played by British actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

Audrey explained that the movie had started life as a stage play, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for its author Tracy Letts who also adapted it for the big screen. Letts had previously written screenplays from two more of his stage plays Bugs (2006)[1] and Killer Joe (2012) both directed by William Friedkin but this time his work was in the hands of John Wells. Wells is best known for his work in Television and has only directed one feature film The Company Men (2010) that starred Ben Affleck.

 

'That' family dinner....

....with Violet Weston at  head of table!

Set in present day Pawhuska, Oklahoma in the very warm August of the title, Violets family descend on the family home when her alcoholic husband goes missing. The complete dysfunctional family are all verbally attacked by Violet, who is supposed to have mouth cancer, which does not seem to affect her evil tongue.  Meanwhile the rest of the family, sundry partners and children indulge in some pretty horrendous character assassination of each other. The family meal has to be heard to be believed!!   

 

A wee family discussion.

There are two things that make this film particularly worth seeing, the first is the calibre of the acting which is superb and Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee, who are responsible for the casting, deserves an Oscar nomination all to them selves. The second is the dialogue with Letts skilful lines exploding on the screen especially in the capable hands of Streep and Julia Roberts in what’s got to be one of her best roles since 2000’s Erin Brockovich for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress.  The movie is in fact a character study ‘par excellence’ and in Movie Ramble’s humble opinion one that’s worth a look.

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[1] A ‘horror’ film starring Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, who incidentally played the same part
in the play.  It probes the blurry lines between paranoia and nightmarish reality it’s an intense mind bending psychological thriller. A slow starter that builds up to a very disturbing finish.  If you like a spooky type thriller, your love this one.

Mud

Matthew McConaughey is an actor that improves with every new film. I felt that in The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) his portrayal of defence lawyer Mickey Haller gave him a chance to leave his lightweight roles behind and to be fair he grabbed the chance with both hands. In William Friedkin’s Killer Joe  he plays the lead role with sinisterly threatening menace and along with Juno Temple made this one of the best films of 2012. Playing opposite an ultra sexy Nicole Kidman in The Paperboy (2012) brought the role of Ward Jansen, a Miami Times investigative journalist, to life.

 

The love obsessed outlaw Mud.

My latest opportunity to evaluate his body of work was in Mud (2012) where he plays the love-obsessed outlaw of the title in a film that’s seen from the viewpoint of two 14-year-old boys. Ellis and his friend Neckbone travel to a deserted river island to make a secret ‘camp’ in a boat that has been lodged up a tree from a storm, there living in the boat they find a man called Mud. He tells them that he killed a man in Texas that was beating a pregnant woman, the same women he has been in love with since he was at school with her. He goes on to tell them how he plans to renovate the boat so he can meet with Juniper and escape into the sunset. The boys agree to help him by transporting food and equipment to the island but what they don’t know is that the murdered mans family, along with some bounty hunters are following Juniper with the aim of flushing out Mud and carrying out their own form of retribution.

 

Neckbone and Ellis.

This coming of age adventure drama, written and directed by Jeff Nichols, is set on the banks of the Mississippi River in Arkansas and brings to mind the Mark Twain novels of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, a character that was based on Twains boyhood friend Tom Blankenship and the name of a character in the film played by the great Sam Shepard (Blackthorn 2011)!

 

Juniper.

A movie about the power of love and how it lets you down if you believe in it too much but one that is surprisingly male dominated in which women are shown as untrustworthy and hard to pin down. This rich slice of Americana has a great script that goes far deeper than the adventure story it appears to be on the surface. A large pat on the back must go to DOP Adam Stone for making it such a good-looking picture. But it’s the acting that really makes this film stand out with McConaughey in his most watchable role to date but one that’s nearly upstaged by the raw talent of 16-year-old Tye Sheridan (The Tree of Life 2010) who plays Ellis; Neckbone is played by Jacob Lofland who appears to be a natural actor in only his debut feature film. The movie also includes Reese Witherspoon as Juniper, Michael Shannon as Neckbone’s Uncle Galen and the veteran actor Joe Don Baker as King the father of the man Mud killed. Certainly one of the best and most enjoyable films I’ve seen this year from a director who shows great promise.