Films you've seen lately

[PatrickMurtha]

Very sorry to hear of the passing of Canadian film director Donald Shebib, whose Goin’ Down the Road (1970) is a classic of independent cinema and a movie that somehow really hits me where I live. The sequel Down the Road Again (2011) was indifferently received, but I have to say that, although it is not up to the level of the original, I loved it, not least for the deft way it clears up some lingering questions you may have had from the plot of the first film. There is a shift in tone: Goin’ Down the Road is darkish realism, Down the Road Again is sunny Shakespearean comedy (in the sense that all troubles will scatter away by the ending).

Of Shebib’s other work, I’ve seen Heartaches (1981), with Margot Kidder (her best work on-screen), Annie Potts, and Robert Carradine. Pauline Kael and I adored this, and everyone else ignored it.

Shebib was a talented man and will be missed.

[Belgrove]

Anatomy of a Fall won this year’s Palme D’Or at Cannes, and revisits the familiar theme of a courtroom trial to establish whether he jumped or was pushed, and if the latter, who did it. This investigative element comes from this drama being played out in a French court, where the process is distinct from the adversarial procedures we are used to here, and it makes for a fascinating contrast. It’s another long one, 2-1/2 hours, but it’s riveting as contextual details prior to the death are revealed, and whether the principal witness can be relied upon because of visual impairment. It’s guaranteed to provoke discussion at the end. An excellent cast with a standout performance by Sandra Hüller, and by a pet canine who plays a crucial role, justifiably winning the Palme D’Og!

[JasonPalmer]

Watched 1917 on bbc iplayer

[smittims]

Are there any Joanna Hogg fans here? I watched Unrelated again yesterday for the umpteenth time. Her first three films , Unrelated, Archipelago, and Exhibition, are among the few films I can watch innumerable times. I was a little disappointed by The Souvenir, which lacked some of the things I admired about her work, but I'm looking forward to The Eternal Daughter which is released next week.

[richardfinegold]

I saw The Holdovers, essentially a bromance with Paul Giamatti and the young Dominic Sessa. I liked the lack of a Hollywood ending. Giamatti’s character was a bit contrived, but overall a very worthwhile film with a real period feel

[johncorrigan]

I've often found the Coen Brothers' films a bit hit and miss down the years, so despite the recommendations of pals I was not sure what to expect when we sat down to watch 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' from a couple of years ago. However, Mrs C and I thoroughly enjoyed the film, six largely unrelated tales of the old west. There were some fine actors on show, the film looked great and I laughed a lot throughout. Available on Netflix, apparently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2PyxzSH1HM

[richardfinegold]

I've often found the Coen Brothers' films a bit hit and miss down the years, so despite the recommendations of pals I was not sure what to expect when we sat down to watch 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' from a couple of years ago. However, Mrs C and I thoroughly enjoyed the film, six largely unrelated tales of the old west. There were some fine actors on show, the film looked great and I laughed a lot throughout. Available on Netflix, apparently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2PyxzSH1HM

I thought that was one of the more enjoyable Cohen brothers films

[Belgrove]

During lockdown I sought out and read the script for Stanley Kubrick’s unmade film of Napoleon, and so was intrigued to discover whether Ridley Scott’s latest blockbuster on the subject was based upon it. It is, substantially, but also ditches much of the subtle psychology that Kubrick could have conveyed through images alone. The result, for all its considerable and expertly rendered spectacle, is rather flat. This is principally because Joaquim Phoenix is too old, uncharismatic and one-note, his character does not develop. Vanessa Kirby is the more animated Josephine, whose chat-up line is a corker. But that scene in itself captures the entire film’s approach, full-on, unsubtle, and eager to progress onto the next event. For all its length the film seems rushed. It’s always engaging, but the subject is too big and events too momentous for a single film, and despite the spectacle, it underwhelms. Kubrick’s version begins and ends with an image that reminds us of Napoleon’s humanity whereas Scott’s provides a full stop that is unintentionally funny.

[gurnemanz]

Anatomy of a Fall won this year’s Palme D’Or at Cannes, and revisits the familiar theme of a courtroom trial to establish whether he jumped or was pushed, and if the latter, who did it. This investigative element comes from this drama being played out in a French court, where the process is distinct from the adversarial procedures we are used to here, and it makes for a fascinating contrast. It’s another long one, 2-1/2 hours, but it’s riveting as contextual details prior to the death are revealed, and whether the principal witness can be relied upon because of visual impairment. It’s guaranteed to provoke discussion at the end. An excellent cast with a standout performance by Sandra Hüller, and by a pet canine who plays a crucial role, justifiably winning the Palme D’Og!

Caught the last screening at our local multi. I second your points. French court scenes were an insight. Not a conventional cinematic experience, quite wordy but rivetingly put across.

Re Snoop the dog (aka Messi), I wondered at the beginning why the walk in the snow right at the start was being shown at such length ....

[smittims]

The Sense of an Ending, a film of Julian Barnes' novel, with Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling. It;s currently on BBC2 iPLayer.

I should have said 'loosely based on..' rather than 'of', as I'd read the book first and was disconcerted by the extra plot . It made me wonder how much novelists tolerate what's done to their books . In this case the alterations weren't damaging, but in the case of Notes on a Scandal I felt the altered ending in the film was a disappointment, a failure. The ending in the novel is more disturbing, more thought-provoking. I noticed that Zoe Heller's name appeared nowhere in the credits and wondered if she'd dissociated herself with the film.

[richardfinegold]

I’ve seen 2 biopics in the last two nights. I am not going to mention the actual titles because these were discs are promos for the Academy Awards and I guess I am not supposed to be reviewing them, but they are due for release soonThe first is about a Black Civil Rights leader who is also gay. His sexual orientation was an embarrassment to his allies in the Civil Rights movement, and when it came time for these men to be honored he was shunted aside. Interesting film, my only complaint being that when the characters speak to each other, they are constantly speaking in aphorisms, as if addressing posterity instead of just routinely conversing.
The second was about a former Olympic Marathon swimmer and her attempts as a sexagenarian to make a comeback and swim from Cuba to Key West. She requires a team of helpers and she inspires great loyalty yet ultimately financially ruins them the in her monomaniacal quest. It’s essentially a sisterhood movie, with an uplifting ending but painful to watch the stresses on her tam

[kernelbogey]

...[Scott's Napoleon's] approach, full-on, unsubtle, and eager to progress onto the next event. For all its length the film seems rushed. It’s always engaging, but the subject is too big and events too momentous for a single film, and despite the spectacle, it underwhelms.....

I went to see it yesterday with a friend, who whispered about half way through 'This is tripe': we both found the script terrible, the dialogue laughable, the characterisation painfully thin. The great battle scenes - Austerlitz, Waterloo - were extraordinary and no doubt superlative of their kind but I found myself thinking throughout 'This is a Hollywood movie'.

[LMcD]

Have just watched 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry'. I loved Rachel Joyce's book, and the film certainly doesn't disappoint. RJ wrote the screenplay and was also one of the executive producers.

[Belgrove]

It was more out of a sense of duty than desire that I went to see Maestro. Films about music and music makers are pretty rare and mostly not very good. But this is a triumph. The story of Bernstein’s life, from the morning of his concert debut, is told within the frame of his marriage with Felicia, and it does not shirk from addressing how Bernstein’s behaviours put that union under such stress. I was also wary that it might be a stodgy bio-pic, but it has genuine cinematic qualities (worthy of Scorsese, who was involved with the production) that Bradley Cooper’s direction pulls off with verve. The black and white photography in the early parts of the film is luminous. But it’s Cooper’s assumption of the role of Bernstein that is truly remarkable, he looks like him, he sounds like him, he conducts like him, he’s Bernstein’s embodiment. But he’s also a better actor than Bernstein - the scene where he speaks with his daughter who is perturbed by rumours about him is remarkable, as much for what isn’t said as for what is. But we are also treated to Carey Mulligan’s acting as Felicia. The scene where bitter truths are exchanged, the pretence that has become their marriage being played out like some farce, echoed by a giant inflatable Snoopy that passes by the window in the Thanksgiving Day parade, is magnificent. The reconstruction of the Ely Mahler 2 is brilliantly executed, but is topped with a bit of cinema that heightens the emotional punch. It’s ultimately a moving love story. So nothing other than a thorough recommendation. I didn’t check which company supplied the cigarettes, which were smoked in planet warming quantities. It should be on Netflix before long for stay-at-homes.

[johncorrigan]

It should be on Netflix before long for stay-at-homes.

Eventually arrivng in Dundee next weekend, Belgrove. Looking forward to it.