Today's Review: Baby Driver

Hoewel zijn vorige Amerikaanse avontuur niet afliep zoals de Brit Edgar Wright zich had voorgesteld, weerhield dat hem er niet van het nogmaals te proberen in Hollywood. De regie over Ant-Man mocht hij verloren hebben, die over zijn eigen carrière allerminst. Waar Marvel hem teveel in haar eigen hokje probeerde op te sluiten, gaf studio Sony hem de vrije hand. Voor Baby Driver sloot hij geen compromissen qua stijlvoering, waardoor de film voor liefhebbers van zijn werk vertrouwd, maar naar Amerikaanse maatstaven juist onorthodox aanvoelt. Deze tegendraadse 'heist movie' is een heerlijke mix van spetterende muziek, kleurrijke personages en wervelende actie, waarin we snel de handtekening van Wright herkennen, maar die niet als een herhalingsoefening voelt.

De chauffeur uit de titel luistert inderdaad naar de schuilnaam Baby en vormt de spil in een gewiekste bende overvallers. Dankzij diens briljante stuurmanskunsten komen de criminelen telkens weg met hun buit. Toch houdt Baby zich op de achtergrond, want hij moet niets hebben van het geweld waarvan zijn collegae zich bedienen. Hij probeert slechts zijn schuld aan bendeleider Doc af te betalen. Bovendien geldt hij als excentriekeling tussen de rovers, allen toch al niet echt normaal. Baby is een apart joch, met zijn koptelefoon steevast op, elke move die hij maakt zorgvuldig georkestreerd door de song die hij op dat moment afspeelt. Noem het auditief autisme, voortvloeiend uit een pijnlijk verleden. De bende tolereert zijn karaktertrekjes, maar staat minder verdraagzaam tegenover zijn zelfverklaarde vertrek uit de criminaliteit als zijn schuld afbetaald is. Vervolgens moet Baby racen als nooit tevoren om aan de misdaad te ontsnappen en met zijn kersverse vriendin, serveerster Debora, een nieuw leven te beginnen.

Een film als Baby Driver staat of valt met het optreden van haar hoofdpersoon en gelukkig is Wrights nieuwste verzekerd van het benodigde jonge talent. Ansel Elgort kruipt met verve in de huid van de titelpersoon, aanvankelijk een ogenschijnlijk arrogante knul die met zijn eigenaardige gevoel voor ritme een beetje op de zenuwen werkt. Al snel verdwijnen zulke twijfels als regen op heet asfalt als we hem beter leren kennen. Het is simpelweg een sympathieke jongen in een slechte situatie, met het nodige trauma achter de rug om te verklaren hoe hij in dit misdadige milieu is beland. Het helpt ook dat Elgort uitstekende chemie kent met Debora's wonderschone Lily James. Of eigenlijk met iedereen, want Wright strikte opnieuw een wereldcast. Met Kevin Spacey als de vileine maar charmante Doc, Jamie Foxx als de sociopathische Bats en Jon Hamm als de arrogante Buddy is het makkelijk om ook voor de schurken te pleiten, zelfs als de kogels om de oren fluiten. Geen Simon Pegg of Nick Frost dit keer, maar zo'n fijn ensemble maakt dat gemis zelfs voor de verstokte Wright fans helemaal goed.

Diezelfde liefhebbers kunnen zich verheugen over het feit dat Wrights belangrijkste vaste personage wel ruimschoots aanwezig is in Baby Driver: de montage. Wright heeft zich altijd een waar virtuoos getoond waar het 't knippen en plakken van shots betreft, maar voor deze film neemt hij dat stempel heel letterlijk. Dit keer laat hij zich leiden door een bonte tracklist aan songs, bekend en minder bekend, waarop hij hele scènes heeft gebaseerd. Neem bijvoorbeeld het haast eindeloze shot waarmee de film opent, weergaloos gevormd door het op Baby's headset spelende Bellbottoms. Dat is nog maar het begin van een film die grotendeels haar soundtrack volgt, maar onder Wrights montage-meesterschap tot een grandioos geheel van muziek en enerverende auto-actie gesmeed wordt. De muzikaal begaafde Elgort danst vol overgave mee als door gehoorbeschadiging geplaagde crimi-coureur die zich evenzeer laat leiden door zijn muziek als de film die zijn naam draagt. Wright schiep met Baby Driver een enorme uitdaging voor zichzelf en zijn cast, maar het is te merken dat iedereen het ritme volledig aanvoelde.

Wright had voor zichzelf blijkbaar iets goed te maken na door Marvel bijna ingekapseld te zijn in andermans manier van werken. Wat dat betreft is Baby een puike metafoor voor Wright zelf. Wright swingt achter de camera zoals Baby achter het stuur. Toch voelt Baby Driver op sommige fronten als een breuk met 's mans eerdere werk. Het is geen volbloed-komedie, zoals praktisch al zijn vorige films. Hoewel er genoeg te lachen valt, zorgen de trubbels rond de getroebleerde hoofdpersoon toch voor zwaardere thematiek. Ook is de film bruter dan we van Wright gewend zijn: was de regisseur nooit vies van een beetje bloed, de kogelregens die deze film afsluiten zijn van een minder zorgeloos kaliber en geven de film toch een zeker 'Amerikaans karakter'. Toch gaat het te ver om te zeggen dat de koppige Brit zich heeft geconformeerd naar Amerika, want Baby Driver is onmiskenbaar een product van zijn eigen creatieve geest, een hoogst originele film zoals die in Hollywood te weinig gemaakt worden.

Today's Review: Chinatown

Het klinkt als een lugubere grap, maar feitelijk was er een moord nodig voor het befaamde einde van één van de beste misdaadfilms uit de geschiedenis. Toen Sharon Tate in 1969 door de Manson Family op brute wijze werd omgebracht in haar huis in Los Angeles, leek het onwaarschijnlijk dat haar echtgenoot, regisseur Roman Polanski, ooit nog een voet in Hollywood zou zetten. Een ijzersterk script van scenarist Robert Towne was nodig om hem te overtuigen dat toch te doen. Alleen het einde bleek niet naar Polanski's zin, die het aanpaste met een bittere sneer naar wat hem vijf jaar eerder was overkomen. Zo werd een onsterfelijke klassieker geboren, die niet alleen nog steeds staat als een huis, maar zelfs weinig aan actualiteit heeft ingeboet. EYE heeft het meesterwerk Chinatown nu digitaal gerestaureerd.

Polanski's klassieker blijft de ultieme haat/liefde-verklaring aan Los Angeles, het Hollywoodland dat we dankzij haar filmindustrie zowel als zonovergoten paradijs en als oord des verderfs kennen. Het is de stad waar Polanski zijn grootste triomf vierde met Rosemary's Baby dat hem definitief op de kaart zette als meesterregisseur, maar ook de plek waar hij zijn hoogzwangere vrouw verloor. L.A. geeft, L.A. neemt. Een boodschap die de film noir een paar decennia eerder al volop verkondigde in klassiekers als Double Indemnity en Sunset Boulevard, die een inspiratiebron voor Chinatown vormden. Hoewel het zwart/wit van zulke invloeden anno 1974 begrijpelijkerwijs moest wijken voor de pracht en praal van de Technicolor, laat Polanski er geen twijfel over bestaan dat onder de felle zonneschijn aan de Pacifische kust een duister Sodom en Gomorra schuilt, waar de misdaad heerst en waar fatsoenlijke mensen het keihard moeten ontgelden. En protagonist Jake Gittes is niet eens een fatsoenlijk mens.

Gittes is, zoals de film noir het wil, een cynische privédetective die op het spoor komt van een schimmig zaakje. Zijn specialisatie is het blootleggen van huwelijkse ontrouw, maar op een dag blijkt het aantonen van dergelijke intrige slechts het openen van een bodemloze beerput, waarbij niemand te vertrouwen valt, zeker de als fatsoenlijk geachte ambtenaren niet. Terwijl L.A. geteisterd wordt door ernstige droogte, wordt de hoofdingenieur van de publieke waterwerken dood aangetroffen. In zijn speurtocht naar de waarheid stuit hij op een femme fatale met een verontrustend geheim, corrupte wetsdienaren en een samenzwering zonder weerga. Allemaal gebruikelijke ingrediënten in het genre, maar in Chinatown virtuoos verweven tot een meesterlijk geheel door een door Los Angeles getekend man, die maar al te goed bekend was met de aantrekkingskracht van de stad en de keerzijde daarvan.

Sindsdien is er niet eens zoveel veranderd. Het gebied rond Los Angeles wordt nog regelmatig geplaagd door watertekort, waarbij heftige conflicten ontstaan met de inwoners van het omringende land, die moeten aanzien hoe de stad al het water opzuigt. De lange geschiedenis die Los Angeles kent met corruptie vormt nog steeds een dankbaar onderwerp voor de filmindustrie van haar eigen Hollywood: van L.A.Confidential tot het recente Gangster Squad en The Nice Guys. Het niveau van Chinatown werd echter nooit overtroffen. Dat is ook te danken aan de formidabele prestaties van de hoofdrolspelers, Jack Nicholson voorop als de aanstekelijk slinkse schavuit Gittes, met stip gevolgd door diens tegenspeelster Faye Dunaway als ogenschijnlijk kwetsbare weduwe die gebukt gaat onder een schokkend geheim, maar daar ook een onmiskenbare kracht uit put waardoor ze de dwarse Gittes effectief tegengas geeft. Om nog maar te zwijgen van de legendarische John Huston als de machtige Noah Cross, die alle touwtjes in handen heeft. Diezelfde John Huston die in 1941 als regisseur debuteerde met The Maltese Falcon, ook al zo'n voortreffelijk stukje film noir dat Chinatown voorging.

Met deze vers opgepoetste kopie voegt EYE opnieuw een essentieel stuk filmgeschiedenis toe aan haar catalogus. Visueel is er wederom vakwerk afgeleverd. De Technicolor spat van het beeld, waarbij de brandende zon in de lucht van Los Angeles sterker dan ooit contrasteert met de onheilspellend schaduwrijke ruimtes binnenshuis die Gittes afstroopt in zijn ontrafeling van het zinderende moordmysterie. De zweetdruppels parelden nimmer zo tastbaar over Nicholsons voorhoofd, terwijl fatale vrouw Dunaway nog nooit zo glamoureus belicht werd als nu. Het geluid had daarentegen nog wel wat extra bewerking kunnen gebruiken, want de achtergrondruis is voor goede oren nadrukkelijk aanwezig. Aan de andere kant draagt dat slechts bij aan het onreine aspect van Los Angeles. Hoe dan ook is Chinatown beslist nog de moeite waard voor elke filmliefhebber, zeker diegenen die het meesterwerk nog niet aanschouwd hebben. 'Forget it, it's Chinatown', klinkt het na tweeënveertig jaar wederom, maar Chinatown is nog altijd onvergetelijk.

Chinatown: 9/10

Today's News: Joker visits mass

This week's news, second batch:

Eerste trailer Black Mass

Another weirdo on Johnny Depp's resumé. But this one proves less amiable than the likes of Willy Wonka, the Mad Hatter or Jack Sparrow. This is as creepy a psychopath as they come. It's not the first time Depp plays a notorious criminal - his take on John Dillinger in Public Enemies springs to mind, not to mention singing serial killer Sweeney Todd - but this isn't a charming rogue, this is a sinister killer with a clear talent and love for ruthless violence. A fact well illustrated by the dinner scene running through this trailer. It's hardly the first time a crime boss character intimidates an underling on film by questioning his loyalty after confiding him with whimsical information, but Depp plays it eerily enough to make you forget that feeling of déja vu. I'm quite convinced Black Mass will prove an effective, chilling mob thriller, mostly thanks to Depp's penchant for playing offbeat, quirky characters, the murderous sort or otherwise.

Eerste trailers The Visit

I'm not so sure this creepy film will hit all the right notes though. Maybe it has something to do with the abyss of flops M. Night Shyamalan is sliding ever more deeply in, though I'm still willing to cut the director of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable some slack. The Visit at least appears a return to form of sorts, after engaging in more otherworldy fare with The Last Airbender and After Earth, which proved a bad call. It's horror that established the name M. Night, so maybe it's horror that puts him back on track. That said, it's stated that this is supposedly a 'horror comedy', which isn't something I would quickly discern from these trailers, which seem to focus mostly on the horrific aspect. Then again, the notion of two old people terrorizing their grandkids in the manner illustrated in these trailers does emit an undeniable feeling of absurdity. I would have felt better if The Visit was a full bred horror film, preferably one that didn't overutilize the home video/social media filming format. Even though Shyamalan hasn't made use of that before (at least not for a full movie), it feels he's a little late to that party, considering how often it has been applied in recent years, particularly in the horror genre. For now I'll refrain from getting my hopes up too much for Shyamalan's potential comeback, but I won't be so quick to denounce him as a directorial quack as most other people are. After all, I'm one of those rare folks that actually liked The Village.

Jared Leto's Joker onthuld

A different kind of Joker, as was to be expected. Heath Ledger's take on the Prince of Chaos is not easily outdone, so Leto and Ayer probably didn't bother to try. Sensible move. So the look has changed, to something resembling a Goth rocker. Tattoos are the Joker's new bodily statement of choice. That said, it's obvious the madness remains and it is likely played up a notch. Since the upcoming DC movies stick closer to the source material of the comics, it's not wrong to make the Joker resemble his comic book counterpart a bit more. Aside from the tattoos, which I've never known the Joker to carry (but then, as a Marvelite I'm not much into DC lore anyway). But hey, I doubt Leto is running around topless for the entire duration of Suicide Squad. Say what you will about the Joker, he always dresses smartly, or what goes for smart dressing in his dubious philosophy. This picture is obviously just a publicity shot to get people talking about this new incarnation of Batman's prime nemesis. It's very likely the final look will still differ from what's illustrated here, though now we at least know in what direction we can expect the character to go in a visual (non)sense. And hey, maybe the Joker's just having a laugh here knowing Batman won't appear in this film to demolish the rest of his teeth.

Today's Review: Suzanne

Yet again have I written a review for MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154302/suzanne_-_recensie

Not a film that achieved what it set out to do. You just don't get to connect with a character enough if you seen 25 years of her life in the space of only 90 minutes. Suzanne therefore gets stuck in a web of consequences, not in creating understanding or exploring proper motivations of the protagonist, who we cannot help but judge harshly for her woeful willingness to behave both wholesomely irresponsible and socially inacceptible. Even though we supposedly get to see what we need to see, it's not enough to mentally associate as closely as we would like in order to place Suzanne's criminal activity in the proper context. Decent acting and fine cinematography not withstanding, for at least the movie succeeds on that account. Women that fall in love with all the wrong men still remain a mystery to the rest of the world. Suzanne doesn't change that.

Today's Double News: Game of Gotham, a Foreshadowing

This just in from MS, by me:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153685/nieuwe_lange_preview_game_of_thrones_seizoen_4

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153660/ben_mckenzie_gecast_voor_gotham-serie

15 minutes of previewing GoT, can it get any better? Sure, watching the actual new season itself instead of being hyped to death. Unlike most other (shorter) teasers for the upcoming season, this one proves really worthwhile. Sure, you got the cast and crew joking around a bit, showing they're just people too, but considering all the death, dismay, dismemberment, decapitation, dicks and dragons these folks deal with each year while working on this magnificent show, it's obvious they are in need of such simple diversions to stay sane. Plus, it's always a blast to see the actors, whose performances you utterly love (yes, you do! Even if they're evil people!), had a great time filming this. Of course HBO wouldn't dare show the bad days - and I reckon there are some, up in the frozen wastes of Iceland and the soaring heat of Croatia - but at least nobody is actually losing any body parts. And even if silly shenanigans and zany dance routines are not your thing, there's plenty of actual new footage to get that mouth of yours watering for more sword & sorcery & sex. There's an epic new dragon shot (my, those beasties are growing rather large!) as well as a first Meereen cityscape, which looks splendid and distinct from the Slaver's Bay cities we witnessed so far. Too bad it makes its throne room look somewhat underwhelming (small for a throne rooom really), but with such compelling performances and terrific drama (and loads of naughty bit cleverly intermixed) we won't even begin to notice such trivial trifles. Winter may still be coming after three seasons, but Seven Hells be damned if this show doesn't stay as formidable as ever.

And now for something completely different. Or not really actually. Just a different setting in a different universe. But a similar game of thrones will soon be played on the small screen in Gotham City, as cops and crooks struggle for power of this metropolis. Not to mention a certain Caped Crusader, though since he's still a kid here I wouldn't bet on seeing much of him anytime soon. Which means Gotham's Finest have to make a stand against crime running rampant on its own. Fortunately James Gordon is on the job, and this week news broke that Ben McKenzie has been cast in that role. I have never heard of him, as I haven't watched anything he's in. Not on purpose of course, it just never popped up in my path. I'll be sure to watch a bit of Gotham though, even if just to see whether that town is anywhere near as interesting without Batman as it is with. Considering many ingredients that make the Dark Knight so enduring are present here, and the story unfolds around many of the same characters, except younger, chances are good it'll prove compelling material. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time revamping a franchise completely with a younger cast severely backfired (at least in my opinion, though not necessarily in those of others). But at least J.J. Abrams is not involved with this one. Good thing too, since there's someone I'd really liked to see Batman beat up.

Today's Mini-Review: Mud

Mud: ****/*****, or 8/10

Gritty and stern coming-of-age drama set on the banks of the mighty Mississippi in a poor, rural community where you get nothing for free, love least of all. Young boys Ellis and Neckbone (marvelous acting from newcomers Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) try to make the best of a harsh life, having fun as well as their situation will allow them. Their latest find to ensure a good time: an abandoned boat swept into the treetops by a flood on a small, neglected river island. Soon someone else encroaches on this idyllic place of theirs though, a mysterious drifter named Mud (impeccable performance by Matthew McConaughey, almost making you forget the numerous lousy romcoms he has starred in in recent years by showing he can still do more demanding bits of acting). On the run from the police, Mud weaves a sympathetic tale of drama and romance which ensnares the boys into making a deal with this stranger: if they provide him with food, tools and information in his ploy to elope with his sweetheart Juniper (a battered but ever beautiful Reese Witherspoon), they can keep the boat, and, thrown in as a bonus, his gun. The boys swiftly find out Mud may be more dangerous than they at first anticipated, as his archenemy arrives in town wist a posse of bounty hunters, poised to kill their new secret associate at all costs. The audience has no illusions that Mud's stories about his life and situation are nowhere near the whole truth, if not a bunch of bald faced lies and baloney. But like the young protagonists, we cannot help but be entranced by Mud's Southern charm and seeming sincerity, especially when much of his wild tales seem to be verified as the film progresses. For Ellis, the love between Mud and Juniper is a refreshing taste of the good things in life he himself sorely lacks, as his own parents cannot get along and are moving increasingly towards a divorce which may end Ellis' life as he knows it, and not necessarily for the better. Just hitting puberty and taking his own first steps in the minefield that is love, Ellis so badly wants to believe in true love that will make people do anything to maintain it, he is blind to any hints that suggest Mud is nothing but a con man. Of course, things are indeed not as they seem, and everything points to Mud having used the boys for his own shady purposes. Despite the eventual exposure of his web of lies though, Mud gets his fair chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his former acolytes, as his nemesis and his band of brigands are moving in on him with no moral qualms of taking out anyone that has come to his aid of late, putting Ellis and Neckbone in grave danger too. A violent conclusion and an unavoidable number of deaths seems inescapable, and love seems unlikely to save the day as Ellis so firmly desired. Director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter) doesn't go easy on his juvenile main characters and adds plenty of misery and bad luck to their already hard life, shattering their illusions and dreams for the future, but never going so far as to eliminate hope entirely. A child's notions of love and life never quite come to fruition as it had expected, he states, but good things can still come from a bad situation in the long run (which does lead to a happy ending that cannot fully avoid a bit of sentimentality). His point is made with help of a great supporting cast of excellent actors, among them the likes of Sam Shepard, Paul Sparks and Michael Shannon (the latter both Boardwalk Empire veterans). Despite the hardships their characters suffer, the swamp lands surrounding the Mississippi that Nichols introduces us to remain a place of simple beauty and hopeful dreams that no violence, betrayal or lies can hurt. And those who hope for shirtless scenes of McConaughey, as is his routine he pulls one off (literally) in this film as well.

Today's News: turns out there are more horrible bosses out there

Here's some more MS news from mine own hand:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/150434/horrible_bosses_krijgt_vervolg

Apparently Horrible Bosses was so successful a sequel was warranted. I get why it made money, it was a fun comedy flick. Does it need a sequel, or does the audience want one? Not at all. But that doesn't stop Hollywood from ramming it down our throats, in the hopes of capitalizing on a name that makes us fondly remember one of the few worthwhile comedies in recent years that have come out of the studio system. It's The Hangover all over again. We get a good comedy and we award it by paying to see it. Afterwards the studio suits think we want more of exactly the same and they present us with one or more sequels that follow the precise same formula of the first movie ad nauseam, thus giving that good first film a sour aftertaste. Not every fine film ought to be turned into a franchise, but franchises are what keeps Hollywood alive these days. As for Horrible Bosses 2, though no official plot information has been released, so far it seems to be an exact carbon copy of the predecessor. The three oppressed employees are back (including, unfortunately, that terribly obnoxious Charlie Day, who ruined every attempt at comic relief in Pacific Rim) and so is the incompetent hitman offering them bad advice on how to terminate their employers. But who are the latter in this case? I'm hoping the writers will add some originality and turn the threesome of former wage slaves into bad bosses themselves as a nice little role reversal. But most likely some new employers will be found to terrorize our heroes, and they'll be played by equally surprising bits of casting (so not Colin Farrell again, but like him someone you wouldn't have expected to see in that particular role either). Though that too is to be expected now, as we're in all-familiar territory.

Horrible Bosses 2 is gonna happen, whether we want it to or not. If we're lucky, it turns out to be a pleasant experience after all. But don't count on that. If it is gonna end up a dud, best thing we can do is not spend our money on it in theaters so this would-be trilogy dies a quick death on its second attempt, sending a clear signal to Hollywood that this blatant enfranchisement needs to stop somewhere. And we ought to do the same thing when Bridesmaids 2, We're the Millers 2 or The Hangover Part IV hit theaters in the future.

Today's Mini-Review: The Bling Ring

The Bling Ring: ***/*****, or 6/10

Sofia Coppola examines the darker side of fame and celebrity worship in this tale based on true events. A gang of teenagers repeatedly break into the lavish homes of various celebs (victims include Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom and Lindsay Lohan) and steal thousands of dollars worth of clothing, jewelry and other assorted personal belongings (but at least they don't take Hilton's dog). This simple plot line is based around two notions that trigger both surprise and disgust in the viewer. Firstly, the ease with which these young robbers manage to sneak into their targets' villas: in many cases all that was needed was scaling a fence and climbing through an unlocked window, or locating the front key under the door mat. And in some cases the gang succeeded to pay return visits over five times, as if the celebrities they stole from either didn't notice their stuff was missing – which is likely the case, as they tend to be out a lot and own so much stuff they hardly seem able to keep track of it all – or they simply didn't care. You'd almost be inclined to think the stars literally invite the perpetrators to enter their homes and become part of their exorbitant life style, which, as the movie reveals, is all the teens really aspire to in their lives. Secondly, and even more mindboggling, is the fact the illegal actions of this 'Bling Ring' as it was called were met with praise and adulation from their peers all over the country and the teens became minor celebrities themselves. Yes, they got fined heavily and sentenced to serve jail time by the authorities, but many people, equally obsessed with living a similarly shallow life of fame and riches, applauded their actions and their nerve. Coppola is not so much interested in exploring the causes of this rampant fascination with banal celebrity culture that invites emulation amongst young people who seem to care about nothing else than expensive fashion, all-night partying with excessive drug and alcohol abuse and endless posting on various social media about their decadent way of life. She merely records and observes young adult obsession with lowbrow popculture spiralling out of control, as these youngsters find they want a piece of their idols and discover it's all too easy to get it, without really caring about the consequences. For this purpose Coppola assembled a convincing cast of young actors with limited motion picture experience, with the exception of Emma Watson (of Harry Potter fame, obviously), who in many ways could be viewed as the type of celeb that might have fallen prey to this band of kleptomaniacs (luckily she lives in England). Watson delivers the most compelling performance of the group as a girl so devoid of social scruples, hints of intelligence and sense of consequence it's both hilarious and frightfully disturbing. Equally offputting is Paris Hilton's mansion, once a crime scene in regard to the movie's topic, now ironically serving as a location for much of the film. We are treated to a glimpse into Hilton's outrageous life style as we walk through her home as the protagonists are cleaning it out. A personal night club lounge with dance pole, huge closets filled with all kinds of expensive dresses, hundreds of pairs of shoes; you name it, Paris has got it. We can only hope those alleged saucy “private” photographs of hers the gang embezzles are meant as a joke. Coppola's neglect to delve deeper into the decadent teen copycat culture that allowed for these burglaries to happen – which she may have done intentionally so as to make the 'Bling Ring' equally as bland and emotionally boring as it was in real life – makes for a rather dull movie consisting of an intriguing topic but a rather poor execution, as we are basically treated to a bunch of despicable, flat characters going on an endless “shopping spree”, all the while talking about fashion, sex and drugs, but without having anything to say that makes them remotely interesting. Pretty soon you hope for the police to arrest their butts and drag them off to jail to lock these horrid teenagers up for good. The fact that this doesn't happen for over an hour of this 90 minute film, while the young criminals get moderately famous when it finally is time to pay for their actions, does deliver some sort of twisted punch to the piece, but it doesn't make the film easier to sit through.

Today's Mini-review: The Imposter

The Imposter: ***/*****, or 6/10

Semi-documentary centered around the unbelievable case of a French con man who posed as a missing American boy and almost got away with it. 13 year old Nick Barclay disappears in Texas in 1994, seemingly reappears a few years later in Spain, but looks nothing like the original (natural ageing not withstanding). Yet on return in the States, he is hailed by “his” family as the actual missing child, until the web of lies on both sides just can't do anything but unravel completely. The imposter is outed as a French swindler who has been passing himself off as missing children before, despite being in his late twenties. The real questions the film then tries to answer revolves around the ease with which the family accepted the con man. As their preferred explanation, the filmmakers suggest the possibility someone in the family was involved with Nick's supposed death, which his relatives tried to cover up. No hard evidence for this theory is presented though. The film consists of interviews with the various parties involved, intercut with re-enactments of what they claim transpired. This movie in a lot of ways emulates the mischievous protagonist himself, posing as a documentary and even being accepted as such, while obviously heavily fictionalized. Still, in many instances it's quite unclear where the truth ends and the fiction begins. This could have made for a more intriguing film were it not for its overreliance on talking heads, which soon gets tedious (especially when they repeat themselves). The failure to account for what really happened to poor little Nick also makes for a frustrating ending: though this cannot be contributed to the filmmakers, their emphasis on their own speculation regarding Nick's death at the hands of his family, which is investigated quite thoroughly near the end of the film and then briskly discarded as a mere theory, also makes for an unsatisfying climax. This film undeniably applies an interesting format to tell its incredible story, but the number of narrative lies employed to make it more tense end up doing some injustice to its contents.