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Movies and stuff
Two more movies I've seen this month:
The Reader is one of those films that can't quite decide what it's about. I suspect it's different things to different people. The plot isn't easy to summarise, but I'll give it a try:
Some years after World War 2, fifteen year Michael (David Kross/Ralph Fiennes) has an affair with Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), a much older woman who works on the trams. She likes to have him read to her, aloud, before they make love. One day, she disappeared without warning. He never really got over it. A few years later, he's a law student and his professor takes him and his classmates to view a war crimes trial. He is shocked to find Hanna is one of the women on trial: she was a guard in a concentration camp and is accused, with others, of having locked a number of Jewish women inside a building that was on fire. The key piece of evidence is a written report of the incident which another defendant claims Hanna wrote. During the trial, Hanna admits she wrote the report and thus gets a much longer sentence than the other defendants. Michael tries to visit her once, but can't face it. Instead, he sends her tapes, reading her book after book.
Let's start with what the film is not. It's not porn, though there are nude scenes and sex scenes. It's not exploitative: the affair is presented as what it is, the script doesn't excuse it, but it doesn't paint Hanna a pedophile either. Michael is 15 (played by an 18 year old actor) and he knows what he's doing; he's perhaps not emotionally prepared for it, but he's not a child being abused, he's a teenage boy doing something really dumb. It's also not a "Nazi" film, although Hanna's past and the more generalised German war-guilt are strong themes.
Although the POV character for most of the film is Michael, to me it's not his story. It's about this woman. She's not particularly likeable, but as her story develops you can see that her abrasive character is a defence. The big revelation of the film is Hanna's illiteracy; and to me that illuminates her whole character. Does it excuse what she did? No. But it does explain how this person who doesn't seem to have any political ideology ended up an SS guard. She says it herself: she needed a job. But she's not someone who can pick and choose her jobs. She's illiterate. She takes jobs where that won't matter. She works hard and eventually she gets promoted. Then suddenly she's faced with confessing to her illiteracy and she can't do it.
It's not easy for most of us to understand what a huge burden this is for a person. Hanna confesses to ordering a mass murder rather than admit she can't read and write. In prison, she begins to teach herself how to read and the moment she figures out her first words is such a hugely powerful thing...
This is a pretty dark story, though, definitely not a feel-good movie. Good performances, a bit slow in places, but I recommend it if you can stand a downbeat ending.
On the other hand, Slumdog Millionaire is being marketed as a major feel-good film. It kind of is: the ending is certainly upbeat, but before you get to the ending there's a very harrowing story. It's being tipped for a lot of awards and it deserves them all. Trust me, if you see only one movie this month, make it this one.
Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) grew up in the slums of Bombay (now Mumbai). He has a job serving tea in a callcentre and he's desperate to find his lost love Latika (Freida Pinto). He doesn't know where to find her but he does know she loves Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. So in a last attempt to contact her he applies to be a contestant on the show, hoping that she'll see him on TV and will contact him. He doesn't expect to get very far, but amazingly, he somehow knows all the answers. The show host is convinced he's cheating and calls the police. The police interrogate him and, over the course of the interrogation, he reveals his life story, in flashbacks, explaining how he knows each answer.
Jamal's life is a harsh one. His mother is killed during a religious riot when he's just a child and he and his brother have to survive on their own. The portrait of life in such extreme poverty pulls few punches. Starvation, child abuse, begging on the streets, torture and injustice - it's all there. But throughout, there are scenes of happiness too. Jamal is an irrepressible kid; the kind of person who can find something good in almost any situation. You really want him to win his million and get the girl.
I've read a lot of criticism of the way the movie portrays Mumbai, but people who know the city have said it's pretty accurate. It's a little sanitized for film; the most disturbing scenes are carefully done with an eye to the censors so it's probably safe for teenagers to watch. In the UK it has a 15 cert; that's probably about right.
It's well made, the pace never flags, the performances are all great and you'll leave the theatre with a big smile on your face. Seriously - I can't recommend this film highly enough.
And one stage show:
The Circus of Horrors is currently touring the UK and having missed the last tour I got myself a ticket. Despite the title, it's not a traditional circus. It's a stage show. And quite a show!
Part rock musical (Dean would approve of the soundtrack, I'm sure), part gothic freakshow and part circus, some of it is in extremely poor taste but if you can get past that it's a riot. Literally. Actually I think the opening was the best part, with a "prisoner" in a tank of water who literally flies out of the tank, spraying water everywhere, to hang from the ceiling in chains.
It is an adult show, and includes some nudity as well as some stuff that's definitely not suitable for the kiddies. But if you enjoy traditional circus acts, rock music and the grotesque, do see if it's coming to a theatre near you. It's fun.
The Reader is one of those films that can't quite decide what it's about. I suspect it's different things to different people. The plot isn't easy to summarise, but I'll give it a try:
Some years after World War 2, fifteen year Michael (David Kross/Ralph Fiennes) has an affair with Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), a much older woman who works on the trams. She likes to have him read to her, aloud, before they make love. One day, she disappeared without warning. He never really got over it. A few years later, he's a law student and his professor takes him and his classmates to view a war crimes trial. He is shocked to find Hanna is one of the women on trial: she was a guard in a concentration camp and is accused, with others, of having locked a number of Jewish women inside a building that was on fire. The key piece of evidence is a written report of the incident which another defendant claims Hanna wrote. During the trial, Hanna admits she wrote the report and thus gets a much longer sentence than the other defendants. Michael tries to visit her once, but can't face it. Instead, he sends her tapes, reading her book after book.
Let's start with what the film is not. It's not porn, though there are nude scenes and sex scenes. It's not exploitative: the affair is presented as what it is, the script doesn't excuse it, but it doesn't paint Hanna a pedophile either. Michael is 15 (played by an 18 year old actor) and he knows what he's doing; he's perhaps not emotionally prepared for it, but he's not a child being abused, he's a teenage boy doing something really dumb. It's also not a "Nazi" film, although Hanna's past and the more generalised German war-guilt are strong themes.
Although the POV character for most of the film is Michael, to me it's not his story. It's about this woman. She's not particularly likeable, but as her story develops you can see that her abrasive character is a defence. The big revelation of the film is Hanna's illiteracy; and to me that illuminates her whole character. Does it excuse what she did? No. But it does explain how this person who doesn't seem to have any political ideology ended up an SS guard. She says it herself: she needed a job. But she's not someone who can pick and choose her jobs. She's illiterate. She takes jobs where that won't matter. She works hard and eventually she gets promoted. Then suddenly she's faced with confessing to her illiteracy and she can't do it.
It's not easy for most of us to understand what a huge burden this is for a person. Hanna confesses to ordering a mass murder rather than admit she can't read and write. In prison, she begins to teach herself how to read and the moment she figures out her first words is such a hugely powerful thing...
This is a pretty dark story, though, definitely not a feel-good movie. Good performances, a bit slow in places, but I recommend it if you can stand a downbeat ending.
On the other hand, Slumdog Millionaire is being marketed as a major feel-good film. It kind of is: the ending is certainly upbeat, but before you get to the ending there's a very harrowing story. It's being tipped for a lot of awards and it deserves them all. Trust me, if you see only one movie this month, make it this one.
Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) grew up in the slums of Bombay (now Mumbai). He has a job serving tea in a callcentre and he's desperate to find his lost love Latika (Freida Pinto). He doesn't know where to find her but he does know she loves Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. So in a last attempt to contact her he applies to be a contestant on the show, hoping that she'll see him on TV and will contact him. He doesn't expect to get very far, but amazingly, he somehow knows all the answers. The show host is convinced he's cheating and calls the police. The police interrogate him and, over the course of the interrogation, he reveals his life story, in flashbacks, explaining how he knows each answer.
Jamal's life is a harsh one. His mother is killed during a religious riot when he's just a child and he and his brother have to survive on their own. The portrait of life in such extreme poverty pulls few punches. Starvation, child abuse, begging on the streets, torture and injustice - it's all there. But throughout, there are scenes of happiness too. Jamal is an irrepressible kid; the kind of person who can find something good in almost any situation. You really want him to win his million and get the girl.
I've read a lot of criticism of the way the movie portrays Mumbai, but people who know the city have said it's pretty accurate. It's a little sanitized for film; the most disturbing scenes are carefully done with an eye to the censors so it's probably safe for teenagers to watch. In the UK it has a 15 cert; that's probably about right.
It's well made, the pace never flags, the performances are all great and you'll leave the theatre with a big smile on your face. Seriously - I can't recommend this film highly enough.
And one stage show:
The Circus of Horrors is currently touring the UK and having missed the last tour I got myself a ticket. Despite the title, it's not a traditional circus. It's a stage show. And quite a show!
Part rock musical (Dean would approve of the soundtrack, I'm sure), part gothic freakshow and part circus, some of it is in extremely poor taste but if you can get past that it's a riot. Literally. Actually I think the opening was the best part, with a "prisoner" in a tank of water who literally flies out of the tank, spraying water everywhere, to hang from the ceiling in chains.
It is an adult show, and includes some nudity as well as some stuff that's definitely not suitable for the kiddies. But if you enjoy traditional circus acts, rock music and the grotesque, do see if it's coming to a theatre near you. It's fun.
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