Pornography and Cinema

“It is becoming clear to me that pornography and cinema are becoming irreversibly closer”-Philip Josse

 Beginning a post with a quote from oneself seems a little like the blog version of referring to yourself in the third person, but no matter. I reiterate my point, we have reached a fork in the road, in which as some films become more family friendly, and studio heads attempt to make every film a 12A, other, art house films are becoming darker, more serious and more sexual.

A prime example of this is Lars Von Trier's opus Nymphomaniac, a film about a sex addict discussing her past. The film is sexually highly graphic featuring copious amounts of unstimulated sex. The only actual difference between Nymphomaniac and a porn film, is that this film is not intended to be erotic or arousing, it is a film intended to be more intellectually stimulating than physically stimulating, however the content of the film is nonetheless highly graphic.

Last year also revealed a surprising amount of graphic gay content, Blue is the Warmest Colour, a lesbian drama was highly graphic and shocked audiences when it premiered at Cannes with it's graphic content. Stranger By the Lake also featured highly graphic content, and was an erotic thriller about a cruising site, situated on the shores of a lake in france.

The increased use of graphic content in film means perhaps that film audiences are losing their hypocritical puritan values, and are willing to see films with sexual content, even if in the past these films were banned or outlawed by the production code. I enjoyed many of these films, and a liberalization of the cinema industry is certainly called for.

The Many Faces of Edna Turnblad

I have some rather exciting personal news, i have been selected to play Edna Turnblad in the university production of Hairspray. While this news is hugely exciting, i do have some especially large shoes to fill, as this is a role that has been played by many legends, including, but not limited to, John Travolta and Harvey Fierstein.

John Travolta as Edna

The role was played by Divine in the original 1988 film directed by John Waters. The character is different from other interpretations of the role, and is, believe it or not, less camp than other iterations. Divine is a legend, and this in addition to being one of his final performances, was one of his best, and hugely influenced the other actors on this list. Divine's performance is what started the tradition of having each subsequent version of Edna played by a man in drag.

The second performer to take over the role was Harvey Fierstein, who was the original Edna on Broadway, and who won a Tony for his efforts. Vocally Fierstein is more gravelly than subsequent versions of the character, however he successfully took elements of Divines performance, especially his appearance, and then added other things, making the character more camp and lighter.
The third high profile performance, and the one most memorable to you readers was that of John Travolta in the 2007 film adaptation of the musical. Travolta's interpretation of the character was wildly different from either that came before it, and yet in a strange way it also pays homage to both the actors who came before him, the character is somehow even lighter than either Devine or Fierstein, and Edna is jolly, loving and full of life, she is somehow light, as if she imagines that she only weighs 40 kilos.

Divine as Edna

I have some pretty big shoes to fill, and each of these actors brought something different to the role of the voluptuous jolly Edna Turnblad.

SNL has a big fat problem

In some ways, the current state of SNL is equivalent to that of the average american family, large, bloated and stationary. Back in the heyday of SNL, cast members used the show as a stepping stone to something bigger, something where they were more important, had more creative power and more freedom, however the current cast of SNL has 14 members, though this is at least down from last year's massive 18 permanent cast members, it is still more than the shows original 8 permanent cast members.

the cast of season 39

For a show which only broadcasts no more than six or seven sketches a night, 14 cast members is still too many, and it means that certain cast members are simply getting lost, and are not truly being seen or heard, it also means that the more talented cast members are not being given enough space to shine, and talented cast members like Kate McKinnon (who is arguably the best comedian of the shows current line up) are barely seen.

The other problem with the current line up is that it is weighted down with cast members who have been there for many years, and who need to leave the cast (or be fired) in order for the show to feel fresh. Keenan  Thompson, Abby Elliott and Bobby Moynihan have all been there for over five years, and have all outstayed their welcome, Thompson in particular has been there since before 2005, and in the decade since then, his popularity has waned.

Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey and Will Ferrell all left SNL before they became too stale, Fey in particular only reached iconic status after leaving the show, and impersonating Sarah Palin. They all became hugely popular and they all new when the gig was up, and it was time to move on, a cast of 11, without Elliott, Moynihan or Thompson would be more streamlined, and less bloated.

The first SNL cast

Weekend Update was one of the few things which was right about last season, and was one of my favourite parts of every episode of the last season, being sharp, current and witty. However i am sorry to say that now it is one of my least favourite elements. The show hired Cecily Strong as co-host, and she was great, however the 40th season came around and she was promptly fired, with the show being hosted by Michael Che and Colin Jost, neither of whom are particularly amusing, and the sketch now feels like a slightly pointless part of the show.

SNL is this season worse than it was last season, Kate McKinnon is now a beacon in a sea of comedians who are neither particularly talented, nor hugely likeable, and the show has become a shadow of its former self.

An Entirely Different View

The view is back for its eighteenth season, and following the departure of Barbara Walters, and the shows failed attempts to become more pop culture friendly and lightweight. The new show features a new set, which is cleaner and fresher, which feels more modern and less stuffy, and the hosts are now sat round a coffee table as opposed to the traditional desk and sofa format seen previously.

The new show also features three new hosts, with only Whoopi Goldberg returning, after Walters retired after working for over 50 years in broadcast journalism, hosting the view for seventeen. The View started as a politically driven, heavyweight talk shown featuring a group of intelligent female journalists and presenters discussing various political and current affairs issues. The show first took a dive following the appointment of Sherri Shepherd and Elizabeth Hasselbeck.

Hasselbeck, who was appointed first was previously known only as a contestent on Survivor, a reality show, and her blind faith in the Bush Administration and the republican party won her few fans, and the show became more about argument than discussion. Sherri Shepherd was known as an actress before her time as co-host, and she caused a furor in her first appearance in which she said that she didn't know if the earth was flat, and that Christians were the first people on earth. Being a Jehovahs Witness she also claimed to never have voted, and was a huge blow for a show which claimed to be about politics.

In the shows seventeenth season, Jenny McCarthy was hired, known for her anti vaccination views and for appearing in playboy, she was a sign that the show was lost, and didn't know whether to be about politics or pop culture, and at the end of the season Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd were both fired. The show then looked to re-orientate the show back to being politically driven.

The first decision the show made was to rehire Rosie O'Donnell, who had previously quit the show in 2007 after a fight with Hasselbeck, O'Donnell is hugely politically active, and she added a sense of gravitas to the show, being a TV veteran. The other new hosts are Rosie Perez, an actress who seems to be blessed with more intelligence than either Shepherd or Hasselbeck, and Nicole Wallace, a former white house aide and political commentator who was previously communications chief during the Bush Presidency, yet who looks less biased and more objective than her biography gives her credit for.

So i ask my readers to give The View a second chance, the show is much more interesting, more diverse and more political than in previous seasons, and the co-hosts seem to be a group of intelligent and politically minded women, who actually have something to say about current affairs

HBO GO

HBO recently announced that they are finally opening up their HBO Go service to non cable users. This is something i advocated about a year ago, as a way for HBO to become more profitable, and a greater competetor for Netflix, currently an internet only service.

Netflix is one of the fastest growing internet streaming companies today, and this is mainly down o their business model, they offer cheap accounts costing less than 10 dollars a month, available in many countries worldwide, and not linked to any specific address, meaning that it is particularly popular with young people.

HBO is currently also popular with young people, having given birth to such series as Game of Thrones, The Sopranos and Girls, however HBO until now offered no way for people to access their streaming services without signing up for a cable package, meaning that many young people used their parents accounts, and thus not paying HBO any money. Allowing access to HBO Go outright means that HBO can finally capitalize on people who only watch television on their tablets and laptops, and who don't have a permanent address, or indeed who have no interest in signing up for a cable package.

This announcement is certainly timely, coming just a few months after Netflix announced a plan to expand across the world starting in france, and Amazon announced that Amazon Prime subscriptions would allow access to a catalog of original and archive television series that included much of HBO's own back catalog, and original shows like the acclaimed Transparent. Hopefully this plan will put HBO into the future, and allow them to compete against rivals Amazon and Netflix.

source: Gawker

Five Favourite French Language Films

France is a country with a huge cinematic history, (it's also a country where i lived for two years and where my parents live to this day, in fact, four of my great grandparents were french), France has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Feature more times than any other country, today their cinematic prowess has perhaps waned somewhat, and they haven't been nominated for the award since 2009. However countries like Switerland, Belgium and Canada still produce some fantastic films, hopefully giving some validity to this list.

• La Vie En Rose

Marion Cotillard makes this film, playing the famous french singer Edith Piaf, Cotillard's portrayal is intensely lifelike, and she takes on the difficult task of playing  Piaf from her beginnings in Paris as a young singer, living hand to mouth on the streets, through her stardom to her eventual death, Cotillard is forced to play both young and old, one of the most difficult things to do, and she pulls it off with outstanding aplomb. La Vie en Rose is a nostalgic dream, that could make anyone fall in love with the music of the little sparrow.

• J'ai Tué Ma Mère

I have made no secret of my love of Xavier Dolan, finding his films to be both powerful and beautiful. J'ai Tué Ma Mère (i killed my mother) was his first feature film, made on a shoestring when he was only nineteen, this film is a revelation. Based on Dolan's own experiences growing up, the film is about a young man, living with his divorced mother, who struggles to raise him, while dealing with his burgeoning sexuality. The film is highly personal both to Dolan and to me, and I Killed My Mother is touching and heartfelt.

• La Vie D'Adele

When this film came out last year, i quickly fell in love with it, La Vie D'Adele, or Blue is the Warmest Colour is an epic three hour film, which ventures into the love story of Adele and Emma, two young women who meet and fall in love in Lille, France. The film is long, however despite it's slightly bloated running time, the film flies by, and is ultimately heartbreaking. The film is shot in a very realistic way using extreme close ups and handheld cameras, the film is largely successful thanks to the outstanding performances of its lead actors, who are both superb in this indie epic.

• Les Amours Imaginaires

 Another film from Canadian film maker Xavier Dolan, here the subject of the film is infatuation, Dolan's first three films all deal with the concept of impossible or at least implausible love stories, and here, Dolan discusses two young people, a boy and a girl, who each fall in love with the same person, only to find that neither of their feelings are reciprocated. The film features superb performances from its three leads, and encompasses a subject we can all empathize with.

• Les Choristes

This little gem was released in 2004 to much acclaim, but since then has largely been forgotten, this comedy about a borstal in which a music teacher starts a choir. The music is by far the star of this film, and despite being butchered by Beyoncé at the academy awards (you tube it, it's really funny!), i listen to the soundtrack of this film to this day. The film is beautiful and strangely poignant, and features fine performances from its varied cast.

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars is a 2014 American drama film, about a young girl suffering from terminal cancer who falls in love for the first time. The film was adapted from a novel of the same name by John Green, and stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort.

Woodley plays Hazel Grave Lancaster, a young girl living with her parents in Indianapolis, struggling to cope with impending death as a result of her terminal cancer. At a support group for cancer patients, she meets Augustus Waters, an amputee and cancer survivor who she subsequently falls in love with. The cast of this film is superb, with Shailene Woodley giving an outstanding performance as the strong, yet fragile Hazel, a girl who tries to prepare those around her for her death, and who has to convince her parents to go on without her.

Elgort is also fantastic as Augustus, an unusually wise and brave young man, who finds himself weakening and falling for Hazel. Filling out the supporting cast is Laura Dern, playing Hazels mum, a woman dealing with the constant sickness of her daughter. Willem Defoe plays Peter Van Houten, the author of Hazel's favorite book, called an imperial affliction, and who she travels to Amsterdam to meet. The entire film is bolstered by a fantastic soundtrack, featuring the talents Ed Sheeran, Tom Odell and Charlie XCX, who contributes a fantastic song called Boom Clap to the film, which perfectly captures the bittersweet nature of the film.

It should be said that the film is a tearjerker, i personally was sat in my room bawling with a tube of loo roll next to me two thirds of the way through, but that's just me. The first part of the film is reasonably cheerful, and there is something subversive about the way the film sets its viewers up, like a roller coaster train climbing a hill the audience knows that the fall out from this film is going to be huge, and as the film goes on we become more enamored and emotionally connected to these characters, and so to see them hurt is painful to watch.

Overall The Fault in Our Stars is emotional without being melodramatic, it's superbly acted and written, and is a touching heartfelt young adult adaptation. Rating: A

Hazel Grace Lancaster: But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.

AHS: Freak Show

The fourth season of anthology series American Horror Story is subtitled Freak Show, and takes place in the town of Jupiter, Florida, where an aging German ex-patriot is attempting to keep one of the last freak-shows in America afloat. Jessica Lange plays Elsa Mars, secretly an amputee who tries to keep her show in business. Starring alongside Lange is a diverse cast of AHS regulars and new actors, who play the sideshow's various 'freaks'.

Sarah Paulson plays both Bette and Dot Tattler, a pair of conjoined twins who become embroiled in murder after their mother is found dead in their kitchen, they are visited by Mars in the hospital, who takes them in, and who protects them from the authorities. Kathy Bates also returns to the show playing Ethel, the shows resident bearded lady and Evan Peters plays her son, a man with fused fingers who performs as 'the lobster boy'. Amazon Eve is played by trans actress Erika Ervin, a woman who is abnormally large.

The show is visually very different to other iterations of the show, whereas both Coven and Asylum were cold, dark and stylish, Freak Show is much softer, the camera is less focused, less sharp giving the whole show a 1950's movie style. Overall the show feels a lot warmer than previous versions, both Coven and Asylum were set in highly hostile environments, the atmosphere of Freak Show is warmer, with the show actually being a place of safety for most of these 'freaks'.

Despite this change in atmosphere, the show is actually the scariest version yet, the antagonist of this season is a terrifying clown, who wears the bottom half of a mask featuring a horrific wide smile, which contrasts with his dead eyes, the clown is responsible for a number of murders which have rocked the small town, leaving four dead. The opening of the first episode is atmospheric and dark, and the entire episode is one of the most chilling the show has yet seen.

The entire cast, many of whom were used in previous seasons is superb, Jessica Lange is fantastic, in what will be her final season on the show and the entire cast is excellent, many of them are favourites, and it is fantastic to see them back on the small screen, albeit playing different characters. Rating: A-

How To Get Away With Murder

How to Get Away with Murder is a 2013 american thriller series, produced by Shonda Rhimes and starring Viola Davis as Annalise Keating, a law professor at a prestigious university, whose students become embroiled in a murder during the school year.

Keating teaches a class called How to Get Away With Murder, a practical university course teaching it's students how to defend guilty clients in murder trials. The series is produced by Shonda Rhimes, and is scheduled after the also Rhimes produced Scandal, and stars Viola Davis, Davis is fantastic as Keating, a hardened and scarily professional professor, who challenges her students to work hard and who seems to be hiding a powerful secret herself. How to Get Away With Murder has the same stylish flair as Scandal, and the show is fun and thrilling. The show uses a unique flashback structure, and the series features a season long mystery, similar in style to Desperate Housewives, and in someways, this show is the first network drama since Desperate Housewives that has the chance to become a stonking great hit.

How to Get Away With Murder is a hugely fun show, it's a stylish and sexy, and is a fantastic vehicle for Viola Davis, who is great in the lead role, the supporting cast is well rounded and diverse, and the show already looks like it will be a huge hit. Rating: A-

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows : The End of Our Journey

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is the seventh part of the Harry Potter saga, and is currently the only film in this series that i haven't reviewed yet. The film is the first part of the two part finale detailing the seventh year of Harry and his friend's schooling. This is the first and only film not to feature any action at Hogwarts. The film features the wizarding world torn apart by war, its inhabitants living in fear of Voldemort and his death eaters.

The film begins with the order of the phoenix attempting to remove Harry from Privet Drive to a safe house, and features the wedding of Fleur and Bill Weasley. The remainder of the film recounts the story of Harry Ron and Hermione looking for Horcruxes, after realizing the locket they found in the previous film is a fake, they look for the real one, and upon finding it, they search for a way to destroy it, the film then shows their destruction of the locket and their search for the others, in addition to Harry finding out more about Dumbledore thanks in part to Rita Skeeter's tell all exposé.

The problem with splitting the final book into two films, is that while it pays off in the next film, creating a climax that is thrilling and frenetic, it leaves this film a little redundant, and while filling all the action into a single film would have been difficult and would have resulting in the omission of many important details, it leaves this film without much of a climax, while the skirmish at Malfoy Manor is used as the ending of the film, it fails to provide a satisfying conclusion, and is highly unsatisfactory.

Deathly Hallows was written as one novel, and there is really no suitable break point in the story without ruining the balance of the films, the final film of the series is really full with action and yet this film feels a little empty and unnecessary. The novel as it was planned by Rowling starts of slowly and builds momentum as it reaches a zenith with a satisfying climax, this film is only successful if viewed as the first part of a two part film, much in the same way as Kill Bill is, as otherwise, it is a little boring as a stand alone film. Deathly Hallows Part 1 is by far the least satisfying of the films, however it is saved somewhat by it's sequel. Rating: C+

Harry Potter is a fantastic and wonderfully complete adaptation of one of the most beloved literary series of british fiction, and so it only seems fitting to end this series of eight posts with a quite from the sorceress herself:

The stories we love best do live in us forever. So, whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.- J.K. Rowling

Julia - A Review by P M Josse

Julia is a 2008 thriller film directed by Erik Zonca, starring Tilda Swinton in the title role. the film was loosely inspired by the John Cassavetes film Gloria, and is a thriller based in california and mexico, Swinton stars as the eponymous Julia, an alcoholic who goes to desperate measures to find money.

Swinton plays Julia, an alcoholic, whose partying lifestyle has cost her job and means she is rapidly running out of money. She agrees to go to AA meetings where she meets a mexican immigrant named Elena, who wants Gloria to kidnap her son from her ex-husband. Julia after much coercion agrees to partake in the plan, she kidnaps the son, and decides to force Elena's ex-husband in order to extort him for money, while she is with the son, she experiences a spiritual rebirth, finally ending up in mexico, where she will have a final showdown.

The film is much buoyed by Swinton's performance, in her role as Julia, Swinton is brash, visceral and real. The role is much removed from Swinton's other roles, especially at the beginning, we are presented to Julia as a woman who is not unattractive, and who certainly lives a superficially glamorous life. Her appearance is utterly transgressive and differs wildly from her other roles, her hair is red and buoyant and her clothing is showy and glamorous.

Her acting in this film is tense and often terrifying, she shows a level of commitment to her character which is admirable, and which is of benefit to this movie. The film however is troubling towards the end, firstly the film is overly long, clocking in at well over two hours, for a character driven drama, this is a little long to spend with one person. The film also has an unsurprising twist at the end, that is utterly too convenient, the character features a turnaround that it too handy, and which belies the action that came before.

Despite its flaws and it's bloated running time, Julia nonetheless features a superb performance by Tilda Swinton, in one of her best roles to date (which is saying something) in this superb character study. Rating: B-

Julia: Well, I'm not really down with the good neighbor shit.

Evolving The Batsuit

Last week i wrote an essay about the costume design of superhero films, however i barely touched on the design of the batsuit, worn by the eponymous Bruce Wayne. There have been by far more iterations of this superhero than of any other comic book character, and many different costumes, these costumes vary greatly in color, design and material.

The first costume to appear on the silver screen was worn by Michael Keyton, in the Tim Burton 1989 drama and it's sequel. The costume is fairly traditional, it features the immobile cowl, thus reducing movement of the head and neck, the iconic helmet with the ears and all but the mouth covered. The suit is made of a smooth matte plastic in jet black, molded and contoured, featuring anatomic muscles and abdominals. The suit features a golden utility belt, which stands out from the rest of the suit, and a logo in fluorescent yellow. The costume is highly reminiscent of the classic comic book suit, and treads a fine line between the campiness of the television series and the tough aesthetic of later films.

The next costume was worn by Val Kilmer, this version is not dissimilar from the Michael Keyton suit, the anatomical features of the suit are now more exaggerated, Bruce Wayne now looks like he is on steroids, the suit contains defined pectorals and even the legs of the suit are muscular and overly defined. The suit contains the same cowl and helmet of the first films, but the neck of the cowl is contoured and ridged. The same utilities are present on the suit, however the belt is black, and the logo is now a bronze color. The suit is still black, however it is now shiny and reflective.

The suit worn by George Clooney would make this next film infamous, Batman & Robin was released in 1997, and would feature Clooney wearing first a suit featuring anatomically correct pectorals with nipples added, and an enlarged codpiece and buttocks, the suit also features the bat logo in silver. This suit was reviled and mocked at the time, and remains undeniably camp. The second suit Clooney wears in this film, breaks the cardinal rule of Batman wearing only black or grey. For this adventure Wayne would wear a silver suit, featuring the same unfortunate codpiece, but including silver panels on the suit, and a huge silver bat logo. This film will go down in history, for the presence of these suits alone.

The Christopher Nolan films would present a tougher, grittier and edgier aesthetic. Filmed a decade after Batman & Robin, the film uses a batsuit supposedly invented for the military, the suit is a matte black kevlar, featuring flexible panels, and a utility belt in a dark bronze, tthe batsuit is also subtly incorporated into the costume. The second suit Christian Bale would wear in this series solves the batsuit's biggest problem, it allows Batman to turn his head, the suit uses interlocking panels to make it flexible. the logo is smaller and more discreet and the neck is slim and allows Wayne to turn his head. The suit overall is tougher and more realistic.

The batsuit has gone through numerous iterations from the ludicrous to the uninspired to the realistic, the Nolan suit is  realistic and by far the most removed from the source material, the most inspired and the most realistic.

Five Favorite Non Disney-Pixar Animated Movies

• Chicken Run

Another stop motion film, directed by the creators of Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run is a movie about a group of chickens living on a battery farm in Yorkshire, led by Ginger, the chickens launch numerous attempts to escapee, all of which fail, until an american rooster named Rocky crash lands on their farm, having escaped from the circus, the chickens launch a plan to fly out of the farm. The film is a hilariously irreverent comedy, featuring quirky and slightly twee animation, and great voice work.

• The Adventures of Tintin

Stephen Spielbergs first animated feature, prodiced by Peter Jackson is a delight, adapted from the series of graphic novels by Hergé, the film uses motion capture to present a mixture of three of Hergés classic stories, woven together to create one exciting rollicking adventure. The film uses a hyperrealistic style of animation, bypassing the uncanny valley which befells so many motion capture films, and propelling it into a graphically stimulating adventure, which is a faithful update of Hergé's adventures.

• Frankenweenie

Tim Burton directed this stop motion flick, which is a light parody and homage to hammer horror films of the sixties and seventies. The film, which is completely shot in black and white, is about a boy who successfully manages to resurrect his pet dog, only for the dog to set in motion a series of cataclysmic events which will lead to the destruction of his entire home town, the film contains some of the most beautiful and fluid stop motion work ever seen on celluloid, and the film is a tremendous achievement, and one of the best stop motion work seen in the past decade.

• The LEGO Movie

One of the newer films on this list, and i can't escape the feeling that i am shooting myself in the foot as in five years this film will already seem dated, however despite it's obvious status as a marketing gimmick, The LEGO Movie is a fantastically fun film, whilst not shot in stop motion, the film attempts to replicate the look of a stop motion film, and does this surprisingly well, the film is colorful, fun and irreverent.

• The Nightmare Before Christmas

Another film by Tim Burton, this time directed by Henry Selick,The Nightmare Before Christmas was one of the first commercially successful stop motion films released, the story of a land where is is always Halloween, and a man who is the master of ceremonies, Jack Skellington uncovers a land called Christmastown, where it is always Christmas, and he attempts to bring this tradition to Halloweenland, an endeavor ending in disaster. The film features exquisite animation, and fantastic music by regular Burton collaborator Danny Elfman.

Designing The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby was one of my favorite films of last year, sumptuous design coupled with wonderful costumes and fine acting made this film gorgeous to look at, despite it's narrative flaws. The film one two Oscars, both for design, one for set design and set decorating, and the other for costume design. I have always loved the twenties, art deco and art nouveau are two of my favorite movements, and having lived in Brussels, i have seen copious amounts of both.

One of the defining features of the twenties and indeed of The Great Gatsby is the architecture, the film takes place in various mansions around long island, and the characters are defined architecturally by the houses they live in. The Buchannans live on East Egg, and belong to the old establishment. Their mansion is a large regency brick building, rectangular and strong, showing the Buchannans place as old money, and their status. Jay Gatsby, on the other hand, lives in an Art Deco mansion, featuring turrets and towers. This house is much more ostentatious than the Buchannan residence, being more ornate, showing Jay Gatsby as a climber, concerned with appearances and status. Nick, on the other hand lives in a ramshackle cottage, overrun with tumbleweed and wisteria, clearly presenting him as a lesser member of society.

The interiors of the house also contrast, the Buchannan mansion features a hollywood regency style, with white stucco ceilings and classy, understated furniture, referencing the fact that they both grew up with money. Gatsby's house on the other hand is pure art deco, wood inlay floors, tall collumns and vaulted ceilings gilded with gold, the whole effect is more overstated and ostentatious, a sign of Gatsby's new money. Nicks cottage is in complete contrast with both of these interiors, it is a more arts and crafts inspired environment, and is overall a much more personal space. The apartment occupied by Myrtle is also different, being predominantly red and stuffed with flowers, the lack of taste in the interior showing Myrtles lack of class and status, the color red being significant of her blatant femininity.

The costumes of the film are also superb, Daisy is the character most obviously categorized by her clothes, her clothes make her look feminine, girlish and naive, they show a sense of immaturity, however they nonetheless show her as someone of status, and her clothes are embellished and fashionable. Gatsby, on the other hand, shows himself to be someone, again, concerned about status, he uses a cane, despite not needing one. Tom Buchanan, on the other hand is more conservative, wearing three piece suits in wool and tweed. Gatsby always wears light colored suits, while Tom always wears dark colors, showing their contrasting personalities and conflict.

The supporting casts costumes are equally distinctive, Jordan Baker wears trousers and pant suits, elegantly tailored, and unusual for a woman of this era, her wearing of more masculine clothing shows her golfing background and her dominant attitude. Myrtle's costumes are more feminine, her wearing much of the color red, wearing her skirts short and wearing fishnet stockings. Her choice of costumes show her as a sex symbol, and as a woman who flaunts her sexuality.

The Great Gatsby is a highly elegant film, the interiors show us much about the class and tastes of the people who inhabit them, their clothes are revelatory of their personalities and status, and of their interactions with the other characters.

We Need To Talk About Kevin - Review by Philip Josse

We Need To Talk About Kevin is a british drama film directed by Lynne Ramsay adapted from the novel by Lionel Shriver, and starring Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller. We Need To Talk About Kevin is about the relationship between a mother and her son, who has recently killed nine people in his school with a bow and arrow, and whith whom she has a distant, unloving relationship.

The cantral figure in the film is the relationship between Eva, and her son Kevin, Eva was a successful travel writer in New York, who had her own imprint and earned a lot of money, she meets a man named Franklin, and suddenly falls pregnant, despite not wanting a child or, really, a relationship with Franklin. Upon the birth of her child, Eva fails to connect with the child, Kevin screams constantly even as an infant, he resists toilet training, and rebuffs her feeble attempts at intimacy and maternal affection. She moves with Franklin to a house in the suburbs at his insistence. In the suburbs, Eva is unhappy and lost, and she lacks direction in her life. She is openly hostile towards to Kevin, telling him that she doesn't love him, and breaking his arm as she lashes out.

As Kevin grows up he becomes even more cold and malicious, as Eva has a daughter, looking for some love in her life, and Kevin reacts to his sister with jealousy, killing her pet hamster in the garbage disposal, and burning her eye with cleaning fluid, leaving her blind. Subsequently Kevin kills nine students at his school, and Eva is forced to loose her house, and she ends up living in a rundown house near the railway line, working in a travel agency, being openly shunned and abused by her neighbors, the film shows her trying to understand the reason behind Kevins actions, and whether this was her fault, or whether he was simply a bad seed.

The film is unequivocal in it's presentation of Eva's guilt, her house is at one point splashed with red paint, and we see Eva washing her hands after having cleaned it, rinsing the red paint off her hands like a murder washing the blood off their hands. Eva is openly abused and is at one point slapped by one of her neighbors, however she doesn't react, and she takes the abuse as if she deserves it. Red is omnisciently present in the film, the film opens with the food fight in valencia showing red splattering and people running, the murder scene is presented similarly to this, with the police lights giving the scene a garish glow. The color red is present mainly after the murder, reminding her constantly of the acts her son committed.

Environments are also very important in the film, the apartment into which Kevin is born is a very personal space, curated over time and filled with memorable trinkets. The house in the suburbs to which they move is in direct contrast, it is cold, uninviting  and impersonal. In the house both of the children have personal spaces which represent them, even Kevin, Eva's only attempt at a personal space is ruined by Kevin, who sprays it with black ink. The rest of the house has a clinical feel, lacking personality or feeling.

The performances in the film are superb, Tilda Swindon is magnificent, playing a woman who is wracked with guilt, who feels responsible for the abhorrent acts her son committed, and who accepts her punishment with an almost saintly penitence. Ezra Miller is also fantastic as Kevin, a sociopath who feels almost nothing, a psychopath who doesn't know why he killed those people, and who acts out of curiosity. The lack of chemistry between Swinton and Miller is incredible, and their performances are subtle and complex.

However We Need To Talk About Kevin raises more questions than it answers, and the film is ultimately more of an exploration than a decipherment. Nonetheless We Need To Talk About Kevin is a visually intriguing and beautifully acted drama. Rating: A-

Eva: Whenever I see fat people, they're always eating. Don't give me any of this... 'slow metabolism, it's my glands' crap.