jeremy-liebster-1 Reviews

Che: Part One (2008)

Atmospheric and well made but...

[5/10 · 14 January 2009]

Nothing quite like getting your teeth into an epic is there? Sitting back and letting yourself get immersed into a struggle, a journey, in this case the Cuban revolution that has become such a cause celebre for many since the 1950s. By the time I left the cinema I sadly felt as though the epic had been squashed down into an easily swallowed period piece with all the epic grandeur of a Dan Brown novel. The problem with Che Part One is that it doesn't say anything particularly interesting or contain any memorable moments. There is lots and lots of shooting which is actually fairly sanitised (this is certainly no Saving Private Ryan), there is some mistreatment of people who are then avenged and there are lots of shots of Benicio del Toro looking quite idealistic and cool.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing specifically wrong with this film. It portrays a fairly accurate (if, as I said, sanitised) picture of the March on Santa Clara and the victory of Castro's rebels. However much in the same way as the kind of perpetually running museum film that you can dip in and out of it is largely uninspiring and leaves you feeling quite detached. The problem is not the direction or the acting which does manage to transport you into the heart of a Civil War ravaged Cuba. It is the fact that we learn next to nothing about Cuba, Che himself or the goals of the revolutionaries. We learn nothing of why the Batista regime was so bad that people wanted to overthrow it. Which means that this simply stands alone as a war film where there are lots of explosions, lots of running around and some scenes of people celebrating in the streets. While I understand from reports that Che Part Two is rather different I think that nevertheless the slight blandness of Che Part One means that, though it looks good, it does feel like a rather wasted opportunity.

Starter for 10 (2006)

Everything that's wrong with British cinema

[1/10 · 29 December 2008]

Why oh why does British cinema persist time and time again with the same formula? 1. Grab a handful of ubiquitous British actors/comedians -in this case James McAvoy, Catherine Tate, Charles Dance, Mark Gatiss and more. 2. Find a 'quirky' subject on which to hang a romantic comedy, in this case that great British favourite University Challenge. 3. Add every kind of possible cliché you can - gawky student falls for pretty girl but ends up with nice one, said student neglects his studies, acts like a prat in rejecting his true mates from back home but ends up coming to his senses in a life-affirming finale. 4. Add a very unsubtle theme about either race or class. In this film our 'hero' is the Essex son of a single mother and his friend back home is unemployed, in trouble with the police but is still rooting for him to succeed at Uni. How sweet. 5. Add an awkward sex scene for light relief. 6. Set it in the past. Any decade is fine, with a particular penchant for the 70s, 80s (as in this film and countless others where Thatcherism looms in the background) or the 19th century.

What I find extraordinary is that British critics berate Hollywood for coming up with clichéd blockbusters yet our film industry persists in churning out the same bittersweet feel-good romantic comedies. James McAvoy (as always) makes a horribly conceited, unappealing lead character but I have to say that my reason for despising every second of this atrocious film had less to do with him and more to do with the comatosed script and direction which contained not an ounce of either soul or originality.

Linha de Passe (2008)

Can't believe this film doesn't have more comments

[9/10 · 8 October 2008]

Absolutely outstanding film. A slice of sometimes gritty, sometimes funny, sometimes boring life in Sao Paolo seen through a lens. Much as I enjoyed City of God and other similar 'favela' style films, having been to Brazil I do get the impression that they sensationalise a certain lifestyle that just doesn't apply to your average city-dwelling Brazilian. Which is partly why I loved Linha de Passe - there was no gun-toting gangsters, just a single parent family struggling with the day to day Sao Paolo life. And lots of football. The main characters were magnificent - all of the sons and the mother were just so incredibly believable that you feel that they can't possibly be actors. The cinematography was beautiful - the football scenes didn't feel clichéd and the urban environments were used to stunning effect.

Linha de Passe isn't something you're going to enjoy if you need a film with a parcel-wrapped storyline dressed up with a pretty ribbon on top. It just offers you an often moving glimpse of what feels like very real life in one of the most populous cities on earth.

It's Winter (2006)

Despite the good things - dull

[5/10 · 7 December 2007]

I wanted to like this film I really did. For me it had the perfect ingredients - it was from a country I knew relatively little about, it was bleak and gritty and the actors were almost frighteningly believable. What's more the cinematography and direction were impressive - I loved the beautiful scenery and the contrasts with the grim realities of urban Iran. The problem was that it was just so so slow. I didn't want an action film; I love thoughtful, quiet films but at one point I was almost begging the writer to give us something, anything, just to maintain a flicker of interest and stop us falling asleep. There was almost no conversation and that which there was I found dull and awkward. I can honestly say that without exaggeration I was utterly stunned when the film finished and my DVD player stated clearly that it had been running for less than 90 minutes. It was genuinely so painfully slow that it seemed to have been running for 3 hours or more. To this day I swear that my DVD player was playing tricks on me....

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Stunning in every way

[10/10 · 7 December 2007]

This film provides a cinematic experience that left me thinking I had just seen one of the greatest films ever made. It was a treat in every way from the superb acting (from Affleck and Pitt as well as the excellent Paul Schneider as Dick Liddle) to the haunting Nick Cave score, from the beautiful scenery to the thoughtful direction. Two particular things to praise - firstly I was concerned that the last half hour after James' death might be unnecessary but I left thinking that it was possibly the best part of the film and indeed served to accentuate that this film really is far more about the tragic character of Robert Ford than it is about Jesse James. Secondly as somebody that is very interested in American history I thought that the film did an impressive job of creating an atmosphere that felt genuinely authentic. The towns, the people, the music, the imagery - everything seemed to perfectly reflect the change, excitement and brutality of the post-Civil War era.

Blood Diamond (2006)

Far exceeded expectations

[8/10 · 23 July 2007]

I watched this film with very low expectations - mainly because it was a big budget Hollywood film about Africa. I therefore naturally expected it, like The Constant Gardener, to be full of subtle-as-a-sledgehammer clichés inspired by trendy, Bono-lite politics rather than harsh reality. I was therefore taken by surprise to see an intelligent, gritty, well-acted film which though tragic never becomes mawkish and does not attempt to trivialise Africa's problems by blaming them on an easy target. The brutish violence on show is undoubtedly necessary, albeit unsettling especially given the age of many of the perpetrators and victims. Leonardo di Caprio gives an accomplished performance in the lead role and is certainly believable as an Afrikaans smuggler. His is a heroic and sympathetic, if uncomfortable character who in his own bitter way lays waste to some of the West's cosy ideas about Africa. His unrequited relationship with the female journalist meanwhile is quietly poignant and never overly-sentimental. The cinematography and direction is glorious and the scenes of Africa absolutely beautiful. Blood Diamond isn't perfect - it deals better, perhaps, with the issue of child soldiers than diamonds, and it would have been more effective had it ended on the African cliffs rather than in an auditorium in London, but these are minor gripes. This is a very impressive, hard-hitting film which deserves to be seen.

Babel (I) (2006)

Insulting to the intelligence

[2/10 · 19 February 2007]

I loved Amores Perros and was really looking forward to seeing this film. Unfortunately where Amores Perros was personal and touching, Babel in trying to be global and important was cliché ridden and non-sensical. As others have said, the acting, music and cinematography were impressive, which is why I have given this film 2 instead of 1 out of 10. But the story - please... I actually found it quite insulting to the intelligence that this film actually claimed to have a message - people should listen to each other. Perhaps if Guillermo Arriaga had spent more time listening and observing people he would have a better understanding of how people actually act in real life. Which is not in any way like they do in this film. An American couple with two small children trying to get over a major problem with their marriage and the death of a child would simply not leave their small kids to go on a coach tour halfway across the world. Coach tours are not intimate - trust me - i've been on one. And Morocco - great choice of country if Cate Blachett is a hygiene freak.

The reactions of the fellow passengers to the crisis once Blanchett gets shot - absolutely laughable. When one of their company has been shot all they can apparently do is moan about air conditioning, panic about the sinister locals and demand the driver leaves without the injured woman. There is no way in the world they would act like that but clearly the writer wanted to show fat Western tourists behaving like crass idiots. And my word if that wasn't hackneyed enough, we then saw the western insensitivities contrasted with the subtlety of a sledge-hammer with the 'noble' locals who took care of Blanchett after the wounding. A Moroccan peasant woman with a wrinkled face treating Blanchett with ancient medicine and saving her life. She even whispered mystical chants and gave her a pipe to smoke. It was like something out of Dances with Wolves. The clichés were coming thick and fast by now. We then had the Americans refusing to allow Blanchett to leave in a Moroccan ambulance. Well that just did it for me. We have an international 'terrorist' incident which we are told is on the news worldwide and we are expected to believe that the American government would allow the apparently-dying American victim to stay in a cave being treated with herbal medicine because of diplomatic red tape? Extraordinary.

But perhaps not as extraordinary as the absurd story of the childminder of Blanchett's children taking them off to Mexico. The childminder's employer has just been shot by apparent terrorists and the story is on every news channel. We are talking major international incident. For all she knows the children's mother is about to die. Yet she takes them in a car to Mexico for her son's wedding. Please!! Give me strength. If this incident was happening all of the parents' relations would be at the house, someone would be able to take care of the children for crying out loud! And when she goes to Mexico after the party she allows her nephew who is clearly drunk to drive back her charges. And why not wait until he is sober - because the children have soccer practice. That's right - they have been up all night, they are driving back to San Diego, their mother has been shot and yet they will still be going to soccer practice in the morning. We are then expected to believe that the nephew would simply drive through the road block and leave his aunt and the children in the middle of the desert. People might think I am being nitpicky on these points but the problem is that it is impossible to take a film seriously (and Babel wants to be taken very very seriously) when the story is so ludicrous.

As for the Japanese story. Well my only problem with that was that it shouldn't have been there. Who cares who sold the gun that shot Blanchett? It's not as though getting hold of guns is difficult. No, Arriaga must have been racking his brains for weeks trying to come up with a plausible excuse for having a story about a Japanese mute included in the film to cement its Oscar credentials. Unfortunately it is, like the rest of the film, a complete sham. Sorry to have gone on but Babel actually made me that cross!