Today's Review: Their Finest

Terwijl Christopher Nolan voortploetert aan het werk voor zijn epische oorlogsfilm Dunkirk, brengt het bescheidener Their Finest die veldslag maanden eerder ter herinnering in de bioscoop. Het romantische drama heeft echter noch het budget, noch de pretenties van Nolans monumentale klus. Their Finest is bovenal een eerbetoon aan de vrouwen die achter de schermen het moreel van de belegerde Britten hooghielden, maar daar amper waardering voor kregen. Die krijgen ze nu alsnog in een lichtzinnig drama waarin romantiek en humor geslaagd hand in hand gaan met oneerlijkheid en oorlogsgruwel, zonder het laatste te bagatelliseren. Met dank aan een Britse topcast die alle inhoudelijke twijfel moeiteloos wegneemt.

Als het moreel van de Britse bevolking tijdens de Blitz beneden alle peil zakt, is het aan het medium film om de gemoederen weer op te peppen. Dat is niet makkelijk, want de meeste mannen vechten voor het vaderland terwijl de vrouwen hun positie in de industrie hebben overgenomen. En schrijven voor een overwegend vrouwelijk publiek blijkt niet iets waartoe Britse scenaristen overtuigend in staat zijn. De muizige Catrin Cole wordt ingehuurd om het vrouwelijke perspectief te belichten. Al snel blijkt die klus grootser dan verwacht, als haar idee voor een dramatische propagandafilm goedkeuring krijgt van het ministerie. Terwijl ze zich staande moet zien te houden in een onverbiddelijke mannenwereld, groeit haar project over de heroïsche evacuatie bij Duinkerken al gauw voorbij alle verwachte proporties. Met de film moet ze niet alleen de Britse strijdbaarheid opkrikken, maar ook de Amerikanen tot de geallieerde zaak verleiden. Tussendoor moet ze leren omgaan met ijdele acteurs, jaloerse scenaristen en wispelturige producenten. Om nog maar te zwijgen van een romantische driehoeksverhouding. Want ook Their Finest zelf is vanuit een overwegend vrouwelijk perspectief gemaakt.

Romantiek, humor, oorlogsdrama, propaganda, vrouwenrechten... Their Finest neemt een hoop hooi op haar vork. De Deense cineaste Lone Scherfig weet het echter tot een sympathiek geheel te breien. De film vertelt immers niet over de ellende in het platgebombardeerde Londen of Duinkerken, maar over de mentale strijd via de kracht van het medium film om het nationale defaitisme een halt toe te roepen. Om ons scepticisme omtrent humor tegen een oorlogsachtergrond te sussen, verzamelde Scherfig een indrukwekkende verzameling Britse acteurs. Jong talent als Sam Claflin en Jack Huston wordt aangevuld met veteranen als Bill Nighy en Helen McCrory, waardoor de kwaliteit van het acteerwerk verzekerd is. Spil in het verhaal is Gemma Artertons Catrin, een aanvankelijk naïeve jongedame die zich als ridder van de Britse zaak moet opwerpen en daarbij vooral mannelijke tegenwerking tegemoet ziet. Is het niet het onrecht van haar lagere salaris, dan wel de strijd met haar man om het recht van kostwinner. Arterton is altijd een genot om naar te kijken en haar ontwikkeling van overdonderde copywriter naar vastberaden producente in Their Finest vormt geen uitzondering op die regel.

Arterton krijgt effectief hulp bij haar lovenswaardige prestatie van haar tegenspelers, waarbij vooral Nighy de show steelt als een voormalig steracteur die zich door zijn leeftijd geconfronteerd ziet met een gebrek aan respectabele rollen. Zijn verontwaardiging over het vertolken van een aan lager wal geraakte zeeman zorgt voor hilarische momenten, evenals diens coachen van een talentloze Amerikaan in een essentiële rol. Het rijke acteursensemble neemt de clichés over de zelfingenomen filmwereld met zichtbaar plezier op de hak. Their Finest vormt een liefdevol eerbetoon aan de aloude kunst van het filmmaken. Bijzonder charmant is de scène waarin een grootse troepenmacht op het Franse strand onthuld wordt als schildering, waar een acteur in close-up doorheen banjert en de illusie verstoort. Feitelijk weinig verschillend van Nolans Dunkirk, waarin bordkartonnen troepen de figuranten moesten aanvullen. Zoveel is er sindsdien niet veranderd in de filmindustrie, bewijst Scherfig op aanstekelijke wijze.

Gelukkig geldt hetzelfde niet voor de positie van de vrouw. Their Finest kent vrouwelijke aanwezigheid in alle sleutelrollen. Hoewel de film niet gebaseerd is op een daadwerkelijk propagandaproject, doet dat geen afbreuk aan de voorgangers van de huidige generaties filmvrouwen, die zich omringd zagen door hun jaloerse en vijandige mannelijke tegenhangers. De angst voor het groeiende feminisme dat de industriële aanwezigheid van vrouwen in de hand werkte, wordt helaas slechts en passant aangestipt in Their Finest. De film trekt liever tijd uit voor een geforceerde driehoeksverhouding tussen Catrin, haar echtgenoot en haar naaste collega, waarin haar eigen wensen niet voorop staan. Hoewel dit subplot afleidt van het hoofdverhaal, kent het toch een verrassende wending die illustreert hoeveel vrouwen opgaven voor het landsbelang, ook nadat de strijd was gestreden. Dat vrouwen niet actief waren aan het front wil niet zeggen dat ook zij niet alles opofferden voor de goede zaak. Een vlugge blik op de castlijst van Dunkirk verraadt de vrouwelijke afwezigheid in Nolans film, waarmee het belang van die boodschap van Their Finest treffend onderstreept wordt.

Today's bunch of minireviews: young people, old people and sex

Spring Breakers: ****/*****, or 7/10

Harmony Korine's provocative take on the death of the American Dream – or the exact opposite, its ultimate realization – follows a quartet of young college girls (including Harmony's wife Rachel) who will stop at nothing to celebrate Spring Break in Florida just to engage in endless mindless, decadent sex and drug use. Being penniless proves a bit of an obstacle at first, but their solution is as shocking as it is effective: just rob a restaurant, get in a car and don't look back. It's only the beginning of a nightmarish thrill ride into the mind of America's hedonistic youngsters who, despite beind educated and full of opportunity, prefer to opt for the easy way out in order to live a careless/carefree life, even if only for a short while. Just when they're living their fantasy to the fullest, the police intervene and haul their asses to jail for abuse of illicit substances. Fortunately, a rapper/gangster/parasite called Alien (James Franco being quite the chameleon, to say the least!) bails them out and introduces them to his world of everything. Thanks to his wild and violent life style leeching off the American way of life, he has loads of guns, loads of dope and loads of sex to offer, which the girls accept all too eagerly. Except for the devout Christian of course, who decides to return home: quite the hypocrit, considering her religious values ought to have kept her from coming along for this ride in the first place, knowing full well what she got herself into but opting to look the other way for her own pleasure. The other girls have the time of their life for a while, until the situation turns dark when a rival mobster threatens Alien's turf. Soon however, it appears Alien got more than he bargained for when the remaining teens prove quite resilient in helping him deal with the aggressor in a surprisingly violent manner. 

Casting several former Disney Channel stars like Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place) and Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) was a brave and perfect choice, both underscoring the point Korine tries to make and allowing these girls to break completely with their 'sweet & innocent' stigma. People who expect lots of booze and boobs in an overly simplistic story get exactly what they expected, just handed in a different way than they would probably have liked, since Spring Breakers is not a simple exploitation flick, but a mesmerizing descent into madness rife with wildly divergent visual gimmicks and hallucinatory effects, making the audience less of a viewer and more of a participant. Korine's rebellious denial to uphold to cinematic conventions made distributors rather uneasy, since the expectations of mainstream teen drama mixed with evocative artsy display caused them, in their limited money driven line of thinking, to be unable to successfully classify this film. As a result, Spring Breakers witnessed a release in both multiplexes and arthouse theaters, but failed to fully win over both audiences due to its rough, offbeat style and confronting thematic contents. Mission accomplished, Korine!

Thérèse Desqueyroux: **/*****, or 5/10

Dull French period drama, set in the 1920s, about the daughter of a wealthy land owner who is forced to marry an older man just so her family can improve its social status by getting its hands on his lands as well and thus becoming a major player in the pinery business. Thérèse (played by Audrey Tautou) soon finds that her loveless marriage revolves all around her child her husband sired with her, while she herself matters little anymore. She's as much a commodity as the pine trees her family trades in, and she receives as little affection. Yet she is expected to help convince a female relative, who's deeply in love with a boy of low status, to also marry for money. The continuing lack of care and interest in what she wants soon drive Thérèse to take outrageous, increasingly dark measures to get noticed again, including setting fires in the plantation and poisoning her husband. When her disturbing deeds come to light, her family threatens to take her child from her and gives her house arrest to avoid the scandal from becoming public knowledge. Though Tautou gives a convincing performance of a cold and calculating woman who sees her freedom and personal space deteriorate more and more, it's hard to feel much for her, since she and those around here are all despicable people who base their lives on increasing the family fortune and their social status instead of aiming to live a happy family life. Interesting parallels can be drawn between this French film and the TV-show Game of Thrones, which have much in common from a plot perspective. However, the latter does succeed much more in squeezing compelling drama out of nasty people out to strengthen their family and riches by marriage and procreation. Thérèse Desqueyroux has to make do with annoying people dancing around each other for two hours. At least the period setting of provincial France in the Twenties offers some diversion from the otherwise tedious story progression of this film.

Song for Marion: ***/*****, or 6/10

Cheerful feel-good movie that is bound to make anyone smile. Grumpy old Arthur (Terence Stamp) is married to the ever optimistic Marion (Vanessa Redgrave), whose favorite passtime is singing in a local choir with other old folks under the tutelage of the beautiful younger woman Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton, a joy to behold as always). Arthur thinks little of her hobby, thinking she'll make a fool of herself, but when she passes away from cancer he feels he must honour her passion and join up with the choir which has entered a singing contest. Arthur does so despite suffering from stage fright and general lack of interest in basically everything, including his estranged son (Who? Christopher Eccleston!) and his granddaughter. The utterly sympathetic and optimistic old performers in Elizabeth's choir, quite a colorful band of singers with their various funny idiosyncrasies, prove to be the most charming and uplifting element of the film (especially when they cheekily start singing about sex), but the emotional core revolves around Arthur and Marion. Though it is rather puzzling to find a spirited woman like her marrying a cynical old fart like him, their devotion towards one another is pulled off convincingly enough to make you believe Arthur would bother with putting up with her hobby, going so far as to save the day in the choir competition where Elizabeth's merry band of singing enthusiasts is as out of place between all the professional top choirs as Arthur is in Marion's choir itself. Of course father and son also become closer to one another due to all the merriment the songs deliver. This movie is utterly devoid of narrative surprises but proves just as pleasing all the same for all ages. An overly simplistic and predictable story does not stand in the way of strong, touching performances throughout and an overall 'don't worry be happy' attitude that nobody can resist. The song may be for Marion, but the movie is for everybody who expects nothing but 90 minutes of cheerful delight.

Today's bunch of mini-reviews

Great Expectations: ***/*****, or 6/10

Mike Newell's take on the classic novel by Charles Dickens. The elaborate visual look to the film suggests a director who has dabbled in big Hollywood pictures, correctly so with the likes of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on Newell's resumé. Despite his experience in big American movies, Great Expectations is decidedly British in tone, as it should be considering it's based on a British novel centered on a poor British boy getting involved in the affairs of wealthy British folk. Little Pip leads a normal harsh life in the lower class, struggling to make a living. He soon finds himself entranced by the eerie Ms. Havisham, a bat shit crazy lady who was betrayed by her bethrothed and since hates all men. The woman sets him up with her young but cold ward Estella with the purpose that he falls in love with her and she gets to break his heart, which kinda happens. Later in life Pip (now played by Jeremy Irvine) is invited to become a gentleman in London, learning the do's and don'ts of high society, courtesy of an unknown benefactor. He soon meets Estella again, now performed by the ravishing Holliday Grainger (of Borgias fame), but is dismayed to hear she is set to marry a not so likable other. Can Pip rescue his love from the clutches of the upperclass? Will he become a gentleman after all? What's the deal with Ms. Havisham and who is paying for his upbringing? Thanks to the lovely acting of the cast of Harry Potter notable veteran English actors, among them Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes and Robbie Coltrane, we are about to find out. And still, despite this solid cast with its impeccable performances and a grandiose detailed period look, Newell's Great Expectations just ends up being somewhat dull. Is it the fact the story has been done so often in years past (even South Park has done an episode around it)? Is it the dated story of social inequality and upperclass intrigue? Who's to say? Truth is, it's better not to foster too great an expectation beforehand, since you might end up disappointed, but it won't be the actors' or the production designer's fault. And don't expect any robot monkeys either.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters: ***/*****, or 6/10

This is not the fairy tale you heard as a kid, about two young siblings killing a witch in an oven. Well, that does happen, but this movie mostly focuses on the successful career of slaying witches those children made afterwards as they grew up. Thanks to Norse director Tommy Wirkola, who in his own country is noted for his 'Nazi zombie' flick Dead Snow, this new spin to the fairy tale ends up being a slick, action packed horror flick filled with many an over-the-top witch kill and creepy monstrous crones to match (good make-up effects there!). Hansel (Jeremy Renner doing what he always does, which is not so interesting) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton, always interesting!) scour the land as bounty hunters, often being hired to track and eliminate local witch infestations. Now, they must face the ultimate ordeal of converging black magic as a powerful witch leader (Famke Janssen) is determined to perform a dark ritual that would grant her great power to the ruin of all good things. As an added nuisance, she needs Gretel's blood to do the trick and Gretel doesn't agree with that decision. Soon the pair must fight off more witches than they ever did before, at the same time learning a new thing or two about the place of witches in the world and the fate of their parents they always thought abandoned them in the woods to die. A typical simple plot bereft of true narrative surprises, but a decent stage for nice hardcore action and a plethora of thrilling stunts. The movie delivers in those regards, and with a running time of just under 90 minutes doesn't overstay its welcome.

Oz: The Great and Powerful: ***/*****, or 7/10

Big budget semi-prequel to The Wizard of Oz (more so to the book than to the 1939 classic film, also for copyright reasons), directed by Sam Raimi who gets more family friendly than we've ever seen him before. Down-on-his-luck country magician Oz (James Franco) gets swept to the far away fantasy land of the same name via balloon and tornado where he is hailed as the saviour of the realm. Since it would make him king, earn him the love of several gorgeous woman (Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz, lucky bastard!) and provide him with a fabulous treasure, the greedy swindler all too eagerly accepts, despite the fact he's expected to kill a wicked witch (a lot of witches in Hollywood all of a sudden: I guess vampires are retro by now). Accompanied by several digital characters, Oz sets out to complete his task, which will cost him more effort than he initially considered. Even though our protagonist is basically a truly egomaniacal dick, the obligatory stereotypical moral lessons soon do their work (this is Disney after all) and all ends well with Oz being outed as a good man with his heart in the right place. This is not a movie you see for character development, but one you watch for visual thrills. Oz has never looked so ominously breathtaking, the Emerald City has never been greener and the Yellow Brick Road is just so dastardly yellow. Inhabited by a multitude of strange creatures (including terrifying flying baboons to scare the kids... in 3D!) and adorned with all manners of spectacular vistas, the technical aspect of the film is secure. In fact, it's underscored by a delightful nod to the classic film – they just couldn't ignore that one – as the film opens in black & white, in the original Academy frame ratio, up until the moment Oz meets Oz and we're colourblinded by contemporary digital possibilities in three dimensions. It works well enough, despite the story being largely 'been there, done that'. It's not Raimi's most original production, but there's great fun to be had for the whole family for a good two hours, as is Disney's goal in life.

Clash of the Titans (2010)

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Unnecessary and unwanted remake of the 1981 Ray Harryhausen classic. At least it acknowledges the charm of the original was based around the wonderful stop motion animation, which it predictably replaces with an abundance of digital effects, including several CGI monsters copied directly from its predecessor (though not necessarily present in the original Greek myth), including giant scorpions and a very snake like Medusa. The plot remains largely the same, though in this more modern look on mythology the gods are treated with much less respect, portrayed as interfering omnipotent beings leeching off of humanity's worship over them, which is rapidly diminishing, making Zeus (who else but Liam Neeson) angry enough to release the monstrous Kraken on mankind, though he still deems humanity worthy enough to allow his son Perseus (Sam Worthington displaying his usual poor acting skills) to successfully fight the terror. Meanwhile, Zeus himself is betrayed by his brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes playing yet another effectively scary bad guy), God of Death – who by now is undoubtedly used to play the villain in Hollywood's contemporary view on mythology – so Perseus also needs to save his daddy despite not carrying much love for him. Though fairly entertaining, this movie simply features too much digital creature fights to make any of them memorable, except maybe for the final Kraken battle. The film is infamous for its horribly poor post-conversion 3-D effects, adding little depth at all but instead messing up many a shot. Though the movie covers most of the original film and actual myth, the amount of money it made warranted a sequel, Wrath of the Titans (2012), which ixnayed the story altogether and focused almost exclusively on people fighting digital monsters, to predictably disappointing results. Despite the failure, a third Clash is in the works. It remains unknown what Ray Harryhausen thinks of all this, but obviously Hollywood can't care less about the opinions of former masters of movie making magic.

Starring: Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, Liam Neeson

Directed by Louis Leterrier

USA: Warner Bros, 2010