The Lobster (2015)Colin Farrell knows what his power animal is. The way Yorgos Lanthimos writes is as a child’s instructional book from a Wes Anderson mini-world. Everything is carefully reasoned and communicated clearly. Everyone speaks with the same monotone voice drained of feeling. Yet it’s a society that does not know how to communicate and anyway isn’t aware of what it’s trying to say even if it could. His characters find themselves marooned in social machines constructed of ideology and perverse punishment. Possibly solely for the delight of the director.
Free Solo (2018)Alex Honnold is driven to free-climb things that have not been free-climbed before much to everyone else’s anxiety. He is in outstanding subject for a documentary as is the setting for his feat. One man clinging to a wall of rock on his ascent to heaven. With drone and other footage, this has the potential to be an outstanding spectacle. But it isn’t. Instead of making a work of cinema, they’ve got on-screen graphics, cut-aways to spectators, voice-overs expressing concern. This is not a sports event! Grrrr.
Thalayanamanthram (1990)A young woman in southern India becomes jealous of her new sister-in-law's wealth. Taking its sensibilities from Bollywood and its budget from whatever could be scraped together, this simple Mollywood tale of the fallout from overspending your family budget trundles along. Encompassing comedy, drama, a couple of songs and even a brief action sequence, the construction site song is a highlight. Otherwise it does not stray far from expectations or convention. Conservative and workmanlike.
Invasion (1965)A low budget accidental East Asian alien invasion occurs around a British hospital. Odd. Elements of this became one of the more famous Dr. Who episodes with the East Asian roles played by animated mannequins. Not sure what that’s saying, but it’s not good. That said, despite the weird use of the race of actors in this and the micro-budget, there is an ominous and oppressive atmosphere throughout this. Excellent sweating all round.
The Night We Dropped a Clanger (1959)Brian Rix gets to play two men who look like Brian Rix. Disappointingly not the Oliver Postgate biopic we all need, this is another British WWII comedy cut through with class commentary and military pastiche. The only things that set this apart are making it about bomb disposal the use of the V1 flying bomb as a key plot element in the film. There’s not much left after that other than moustaches, rank-pulling and out and out incompetence. A trifle to be ignored.
Daddy Long Legs (1955)Jean Negulesco frankensteins togther a Fred Astaire musical from the 1930s with another go at ‘An American in Paris’. Ick. May to September romances are one thing, when there’s an element of grooming as well? Ick. That also applies to the combination of Fred Astaire dance numbers, on amazingly large hotel balconies together with 12 minutes long dance sequences that don’t really tell a story and seem only to be there to show off Leslie Caron’s dance skills. A mess combining two eras of film musical that just don't work together.
The Martian (2015)Matt Damon, potato farmer. A film notable for how frequently and how badly NASA PR does their job. Matt Damon has a grand old time ‘doing science’ on Mars, despite the proximity and likelihood of his demise. All the tension and drama arises from conflicts and cock-ups away from Mars. An interminable series of ethical dilemmas and press-relations decisions that left me wanting to get back to Mars to see how the potato crop was doing. Tries to be ‘Apollo 13’ but lacks the drama necessary.
Shorts of the WeekA Portrait of Ga (1952)Margaret Tait turns her camera on her mother for a short portrait of her life in the Orkneys; a good place to grow up. Although possessing many of the qualities of more modern home movies, this definitely has more about it. Her mother dances and smokes and allows the wind from the Atlantic to gust about her. The love and admiration between mother and daughter flows between the subject and the lens. A simple film of a simple life of gardening and boiled sweets.
Christmas is Coming (1951)Silhouette animation from Lotte Reiniger for the General Post Office. This one concerns the last postal dates for Christmas posting. Featuring a grumpy and slightly depressed Santa Claus and a much better informed St. Peter, it does have the necessary hint of seasonal jollity and lightness of touch. Also notable for the information that Santa does not put his own boots on, possibly because he can no longer reach his feet. Conjures a mood and a time of utter security and calm.
Two Bagatelles (1953)Norman McLaren moves his animation away from drawing directly onto film to moving humans around with precise control to create smooth, uncanny effects. It’s a much older type of animation when compared to some of his other work, but here McLaren shows a degree of control from frame to frame that not only smooths movement, but the figures in both bagatelles seem to naturally emote from frame to frame as well. Ultimately throw away as the title suggests, but indicative of a master animator at work.
村祭 (1930) aka Mura Matsuri/The Village FestivalFollow the bouncing ball and sing along to the mura matsuri song. Truly charming simple animation from a time when celebrating the annual passage of the seasons meant festivals. The mura matsuri furyu is a harvest festival held every two years in the Oki islands which continues to this day. It involves a three-legged crow and a white rabbit representing by sun and moon gods changing places. There are two versions of this online. One with the soundtrack one without, and this is all about the song.