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Final word from our LFF blogger
The Fantastic Mr Clooney...
Mon, 23 Nov 2009
Hurrah! It’s that time of year again. For most people October means talking about the X Factor, drinking red wine and moaning about the fact it is Autumn. However, for me, Katie Campbell, it means going to the cinema on your own at 9.30am on a Sunday. And occasionally standing in the same room as movie stars and generally being very smug about going to see a lot of films for free ages before anyone else. The London Film Festival is here and the nice Script Factory people have let me write a blog!
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The dust has finally settled on the LFF and life has returned to normal. For me, there are no more almost-sightings of Hollywood A listers and no more solo 9.30am screenings. Although there are dozens more films I could tell you about, I think it is only fair to wrap this blog up with the most-talked about film in the Festival, Precious and the closing night film, Nowhere Boy, as both represent an excellence of which the Festival should be proud.
LFF closer Nowhere Boy
It took me a while to recover from watching Lee Daniels’ Precious. Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (the film’s original title) and set in 1980’s Harlem, it tells the story of Clareece "Precious" Jones, an obese teen who is pregnant with her second child by her father and lives with her abusive mother. Roundly bounced out of school and illiterate, she enters into an alternative teaching programme headed up by the inspirational Miss Rain and it is there she begins her journey out of the slow-burning hell that is her life. This film features two exceptional performances by Gabourey "Gabby" Sidebe as Precious and Mo'Nique as her mother. You feel the impact of every horror inflicted on Precious and her coping mechanisms, empty fantasies where she is simply "famous", create tonal breaks from the claustrophobic, despairing hell of her home life in moments that are surprisingly comic. Mo'Nique, usually a comic actress, is just as powerful as a woman who has locked herself into the role of Precious' tormentor and whose own complicity in the abuse eventually creates an emotional cage from which she can never escape. Mariah Carey makes a fantastically bare-faced appearance as Precious' social worker trying to make an impact, Lenny Kravitz pops up as a charming male nurse and Paula Patton as Miss Rain is luminescent. Daniels' film (already hyped beyond belief, it has been playing at festivals for months and has Oprah Winfrey championing its cause as an exec producer) is powerful stuff; a couple of moments left me gasping aloud in distress. I genuinely hope that its hype doesn't prove to be a poisoned chalice, because although audiences (especially parents) may struggle with its horror and heartbreak, it is completely engaging, groundbreaking and not to be ignored.
Following up her excellent short film, Love You More, Sam Taylor Wood tackles the adolescence of an icon in her John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy. Closing the LFF, this film really exemplifies the best of British, not just in subject matter but in behind-the-screen talent. Shot beautifully by Seamus McGarvey, one of our finest DOPs, and cast by Nina Gold, it features rising star Aaron Johnson (as Lennon) alongside Kristin Scott Thomas and Anne Marie Duff. Scripted by Control writer Matt Greenhalgh, this film avoids tacky Beatles premonitions, instead focussing on the tense love triangle of sorts between Lennon's birth mother who reappears, the glamorous rock and roll loving Julia (Duff) and the aunt who raised him, who is far more interested in Tchaikovsky, good manners and a nice cup of tea than Lennon's fledgling rock and roll. Reunited with his birth mother in his teens, this film is about Lennon's troubled but formative years, bookended by tragedy and goes from his very first gig, to his life-changing relationship with McCartney, to Lennon, McCartney and George Harrison being unleashed onto the world. Taylor-Wood's move from artist to filmmaker has been seamless, and with her debut she proves herself to be assured and talented, creating an energetic world and dealing with the sad tension between the two mothers and John sensitively. She also gets excellent performances out of everyone, especially the 19-year old Johnson who captures Lennon's cocky teenage vulnerability perfectly. It’s not flawless, and the film's denouement strays into the melodramatic, but it is much more than just a Beatles biopic. Nowhere Boy is about the tragic and unsettled teenage years of the boy who became an idol.
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Having raved about the starriest of American projects in the festival programme in my last blog, I thought it would be only fair to give you a rundown of the Brits making waves at the festival this year (and getting themselves a bunch of BIFA nominations ). From first love in the heaths of Hampstead in Jane Campion's much-feted Bright Star or a trip back in time to 1960s Twickenham or a bonkers road trip from those whacky Mighty Boosh boys to two low budget Brit films, Disappearance of Alice Creed and Scouting Book for Boys, here are some of Brit film highlights...
Abbie Cornish in Jane Campion's Bright StarIt is hard to write about Bright Star without falling into sweeping adjectives. It is, after all, the story of a doomed love affair between poet John Keats and his young neighbour Fanny Brawne. Sidestepping OTT Romanticist navel-gazing (though still with a beautiful aesthetic) Campion makes this story more about Keats' young lover Fanny than the poet himself, as she draws herself further and further into a love affair that, put simply, Keats cannot afford to turn into marriage. Ben Whishaw plays Keats with an excellent balance of delicacy and leading-man charm, whilst Abbie Cornish as the determined young Fanny truly takes centre stage with an assured performance.
An EducationOne of my favourites in the festival is the Nick Hornby-penned An Education, based on Lynn Barber's memoir of the same title and produced by Amanda Posey and Finola Dwyer (on of The Script Factory’s ). An Education is an easygoing coming of age story about Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a bright but bored schoolgirl in Twickenham, 1961 who falls for David, a sophisticated and seductive older man (Peter Saarsgard) on the cusp of her Oxford entrance exams. Saarsgard and Mulligan have fantastic on-screen chemistry: one has an empty worldliness while the other is innocent but fiercely intelligent. They have excellent support from Alfred Molina as Jenny's dad desperately trying to do the right thing and Rosamund Pike, in a breakout comedy performance as David's glamourpuss friend which almost steals the film away. This story is far more about the young Jenny's relationship with her own intelligence than it is about her whirlwind love affair, even when that affair comes dangerously close to derailing her (I spent alot of time thinking to myself, don't worry, Jenny will be ok, Jenny becomes Lynn Barber). It also creates a perfect sense of time and place of the seismic shift happening in Britain in 1961 as the Swinging Sixties comes knocking on the mock-tudor front doors of suburbia.
The Bunny and BullThe Bunny and Bull is the much-anticipated feature debut from Mighty Boosh director Paul King. Written and directed by King, it is a buddy road movie that is set almost entirely in the dingy flat and minds eye of Stephen (played by Edward Hogg, who has borrowed Noel Fielding's hair for the film). Stephen is an agoraphobe who hasn't left his flat since some kind of misadventure on a road trip with his friend Bunny (Simon Farnaby) the previous year. The film is essentially a series of flashbacks of Stephen's trip with Bunny, as they pick up a sexy heartbroken Spanish waitress (the gorgeous and hilarious Veronica Echegui) en route and follow her to The Fiesta. Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt both pop up in cameos featuring some fairly special accents and visually, The Bunny and The Bull has the same handmade quality of Boosh (something that appears to be everywhere this year, from Mr Fox to Paper Heart and now this) and their particular brand of homemade surrealism, quirky set design, characters and costumes all add to the slightly bonkers world and will likely not disappoint fans. I have always felt fairly lukewarm towards The Mighty Boosh and I was expecting to feel the same about this however King and his team have really cranked things up a notch in terms of plot development and characters, making this feel like a very complete film full of genuine laughs and the film's finale is especially, I think surprisingly, moving. Considering Bromantic Comedies are the Hollywood flavour of the moment, hopefully this buddy road movie comedy will find its audience beyond just the Boosh lovers amongst you.
Much further down the scale in terms of budget come two features, The Disappearance of Alice Creed and The Scouting Book for Boys from emerging British filmmaking talent. The former, from newcomer writer/director J Blakeson, is a claustrophobic kidnap drama about a young woman (Gemma Arterton) who is attacked by two calculated but nervy kidnappers (Martin Compton and Eddie Marsan) who plan to claim a huge ransom from her millionaire father. Their plan swiftly unravels as soon as Alice is left in a room alone with the younger kidnapper and it quickly becomes a battle of wits and a fight for survival. This film is buoyed by strong performances and grimy tension, the plot twists and turns result in an interesting watch for first time writer/directors. Also featuriong a disappearance is former Brit List script The Scouting Book for Boys from director Tom Harper (who has previously made two excellent shorts, including 2006's Cubs with Ashley Walters). Scouting Book for Boys is also the debut feature from Skins writer Jack Thorne. Set in a caravan park in Norfolk, childhood best friends Emily (Holliday Grainger) and David (Thomas Turgoose) are inseparable and when social services threaten to send Emily away to live with her father, Emily mysteriously disappears in the middle of the night. Innocent games wander into much darker territory as the police close in on the small community and two young lives are transformed forever. This is edgy, nervy stuff, with good performances from the two young leads in challenging roles.
And as the festival draws to a close, I have a few loose ends to tie up in my next blog as I try to get my thoughts together to write a blog that does any justice to the exceptional Precious. And of course, the closing Brit film of the festival, Sam Taylor-Wood's Nowhere Boy...
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Katie tries out some of the US pics in the last few days.
George Clooney moves effortlessly from a Vulpine mid-life crisis to a corporate one in his new comedy from Jason Juno Reitman. Reitman returns to the roots of his debut, Thank You For Not Smoking as we meet Ryan Bingham (played by Clooney on effortlessly charming form), a gun for hire who is brought in by ailing companies to do their dirty work and fire their employees. He is quite literally a high-flier, as he is constantly travelling his only goal in life is to reach 10 million air miles. On the side he is a motivational speaker whose trademark is called ‘The Empty Backpack’, his schtick being that relationships with others weigh you down and stop you from succeeding. Naturally, he is about to encounter some mid-flight emotional turbulence when he meets a similar high-flier, Alex (Vera Farmiga) and is challenged by a new upstart at his company Natalie (Anna Kendrick). Tapping into zeitgeist effortlessly, this comedy is exemplary and uplifting, with just enough existentialism and emotional punch to keep you more than just giggling. It is this warmth that keeps Up In The Air soaring above Steven Soderbergh’s new comedy The Informant! Back again in the corporate world, this is adapted from a real life story of the FBI’s highest ranking corporate whistle-blower, Mark Whitacre. Matt Damon fattens up to play Whitacre, a family man whose integrity as an informant is somewhat tested when it becomes apparent that he is potentially not telling his new FBI friends the whole story. This is mostly funny stuff, with an array of stand up comedians playing the various straight guys and Whitacre’s antics are genuinely jaw-dropping as Soderbergh slowly unveils layer after layer of just what exactly is going on whilst playing with the conventions of corporate thrillers. The unrelenting japes of Whitacre, however amusing, keep the viewer at arm’s length and it is impossible to gush about this film. Fun for fans of Soderbergh and his mates, though if you want corporate zeitgesty comedy, I would head Up In The Air.
Hug your mum - The RoadAnd now for something totally different and by something completely different I mean not funny at all. In fact, something so bleak that it didn’t even get a party after its gala on Friday night because the LFF people rightly assumed that no one would want canapés after watching it. I didn’t, I wanted to go home and hug my mum. By now you may have guessed I am talking about The Road. This is harrowing, horrific, heartbreaking and beautiful. Based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel, with an adaptation by British playwright Joe Penhall and directed by Australian John Hillcoat, The Road is set in a hauntingly nearby post-apocalyptic world as we follow a man and his son trying to survive their journey to the coast through a destroyed and terrifying new world, seemingly empty of all life except hideous enemies. It stars Viggo Mortenson and Charlize Theron, plus excellent newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee. I personally think it is completely unmissable but as Viggo himself warned at his heart-felt introduction of it on Friday night, “you will feel sad…”
Next up will be the turn of the Brits.
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Officially, the Festival started last night with a lavish premiere of The Fantastic Mr Fox (more about that later) and a big party in a swanky art gallery (more about that later too), however my natty little LFF pass got me into lots of press screenings last week, allowing me to give you an early rundown of the best things to look for in the first week. If you don’t have yourself a pass then consider this to be a list of films to talk about in the pub to sound cool (and to watch when they eventually get released)…
Now that's a hat: The Limits of ControlFirst up is the latest from indie king Jim Jarmusch, The Limits of Control. This hit-man-on-the-road movie is part thriller/part self-aware meditation on creative idealism...or something like that. Full of ideas and cameos (from Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal, John Hurt and Bill Murray), it’s undeniably beautiful, with extra special production and costume design (check out Tilda’s cowboy hat) and a marvellous set piece flamenco scene as we follow tai chi-loving Lone Man (Isaach De Bankole) on his travels through Spain to complete a mysterious mission involving matchboxes. Yes. Matchboxes. Anyway, having only just stopped giggling at Bill Murray’s unexpected appearance in Zombieland last week, he pops up again in Limits of Control, proving that old adage that Bill Murray cameos really are like buses: you wait ages for one and then two come along at once (actually three if you count Mr Badger in The Fantastic Mr Fox). If I knew remotely what this film was actually about I would try to tell you more, however I don't so I will just say that Limits of Control has had critics divided and is strictly for die-hard art house fans who like their pace, ahem, gentle and their metaphors extended. It is very interesting and perfect for talking about in the pub because no one else actually knows what it is about either so you can really bang on about it at will.
She, a ChineseMy next one to watch is the low-budget She, A Chinese. This feature from novelist and NFTS graduate Xiaolu Guo [soon to be seen on The Script Factory/WFTV Festival panel on Wed 21 October - Snipping Away at the Celluloid Ceiling] is the drifting story of a young woman, Mei (the excellent Lu Huang), as she journeys from a tough life in rural China, to the bright lights of factory life in Chongqing before finally arriving at the even brighter lights of London. Told through a series of chapter headings, at times this film feels almost like a sketch than a fully-realised narrative. Its tone is almost distant, dealing with the harrowing and the heartbreaking with an almost casual everyday touch that only increases its impact as Mei struggles to find her home. Not exactly a barrel of laughs (and certainly not an advert for living in China) this film is an honest, well-crafted story about a journey rather than a destination, from child to adult, East to West, hope to disillusionment. I also can’t help but be a little fascinated by the director Xiaolu Guo herself, who was born in a small Chinese fishing village and is a prolific novelist, a documentary filmmaker and now an accomplished film director.
Love at first sight - Paper HeartAnother woman on a journey (a lot funnier but no less interesting) is the subject of the feature doc Paper Heart. Charlyne Yi doesn't believe in love. And who is Charlyne Yi? She is a kooky LA-based comedian/musician (and scene-stealer - see Knocked Up) who has set out with her mate, director Nicholas Jasenovec, to make a documentary about falling in love (or not). No sooner have they hit the road to meet various science-types, old married couples and other interesting people to interview them about falling in love than Charlyne meets an actual Love Interest, the geeky yet insanely charming Michael Cera (the kid from Superbad and Juno). Here the lines between doc and mockumentary become blurred and it all get a touch, err, post-modern as Yi spends the rest of the movie juggling the flushes of first romance with trying not to fall in love whilst being followed everywhere by a camera crew making a film about not falling in love. Like I said, terribly post-modern. To get along with this you’ve got to love the low-fi puppetry that pops up and Yi herself, who is so quirky she makes Juno look like Dame Judi Dench. I can get over all that because at its heart (paper or otherwise), this is just a uniquely personal journey with Yi as she tries very hard not to fall in love and be, well, just like everyone else.
Ok so I can’t really write about the opening week of the Festival without mentioning a certain Mr Fox. This film is not exactly a hidden gem and frankly it is a fairly obvious top tip considering it’s opening this festivities this year, stars two of the biggest actors on the planet (Streep and Clooney. They don’t need first names) and directed by coffee house favourite Wes Anderson – however, it’s most definitely worth a quick mention. This is because it really is rather fantastic (sorry). It has all the hallmarks of an Anderson film (you know…soundtrack, quirk, Jason Schwartzman), plus a lovely autumnal palette and some gorgeous stop-motion animation. If you are going to complain about such a jolly effort then it is fair to say there is probably more Wes Anderson than Roald Dahl in this classic story of the lovable rogue flying in the face of the three meanest farmers on earth (Boggis, Bunce and Bean: you know them, one’s fat, one’s short, one’s lean). I can picture lots of script meetings involving Anderson and co-screenwriter Noah Baumbach scratching their heads trying to keep their story of mid-life vulpine crisis actually for kids and true to the derring-do of the original story (maybe that’s why Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves gets a special thank you in the end credits?) and it still feels very adult - BUT the end result is delightful and, presumably like everyone else he meets, you just can’t help loving that Fantastic Mr Clooney I mean Fox.
Who you gonna call..?Another important part of the whole event is parties and I very occasionally swindle myself a ticket to one or two (I do make an worthy ‘plus 1’ if you're short of one, no pressure). This allows me to stand in the same room as some very famous people. Last night’s swanky bash to celebrate the opening night and The Fantastic Mr Fox premiere was at the Saatchi Gallery and certainly promised me some excellent gawking access to my two favourite doctors (and stars of the film) Dr Doug Ross and Peter Venkman, PhD. However I can say totally honestly that I missed seeing them both because I was too busy chasing around a tray of mini Yorkshire puddings. I was told later they were less than two feet away from me on two different occasions. And both times I missed them because I was scouting for canapés. Now I have to live with that.
So – off to a grand start - I’ll let you know how I get on as the festivities continue next week…
To comment on our LFF blog or discuss it with Katie Campbell send an email to info@scriptfactory.co.uk