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.

Theodore and the very real OS

In the near distant future, a time when all men have mustaches and computers have emotions, a man falls head over heels in love with his computer, a female OS named Samantha. Her, is a 2013 romantic comedy, science fiction directed by Spike Jonze, about a man named Theodore Twombly, who falls in love with an OS, the film explores loneliness, isolation, and heartbreak, in addition to looking at the way we fall in love. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams and Chris Pratt.

The film follows the life of Theodore Twombly, a lonely man and letter writer who has recently gone through a divorce, he installs a new artificially intelligent operating system called Samantha, with whom he quickly falls in love. The film also follows his relationship with Amy, a woman whom he once dated, and who has her own relationship with an OS. The film explores the relationship without judgement or criticism, and from a highly internal point of view, it is one of the few films in which the audience feels not like a spectator, but like an internal part of the relationship.

The chemistry between the two leads is palpable, and Joaquin Phoenix gives a solid performance as a lonely, heartfelt and isolated man, who wears his heart on his chest and how is damaged easily, what is especially impressive about his performance is that Phoenix is essentially alone for the entire film, and he has to project all this emotion and feeling on to someone who is essentially non-existent. The chemistry between Theodore and Samantha is highly impressive given firstly that one of them is just a disembodied voice, and even more impressive given that Scarlett Johansson's voice was dubbed in post production.

This films most impressive performance by far is that of Johansson, who as the voice of Samantha is sensual, sexy and emotional. Her performance is not only one of the best voice performances, but also one of the best performances of all time, Samantha's lack of a physical body is of no hindrance to her performance, in fact it accentuates it, her presence throughout the film is at times omnipotent. Her voice somehow manages to define female sensuality, and the sheer power of her voice is highly impressive.

The film is set in the near future, and is essentially an extrapolation of our current society. The film is nominally set in Los Angeles, a fact we only learn towards the end of the movie, however it could really be set anywhere. Theodore spends his entire evenings playing a game featuring a little man who climbs up a mountain and who works through caves, a game that is seemingly pointless, however is is in reality no less interesting than Doodle Jump or Flappy Bird. People spend their entire days talking to their computers through small headpieces, which is essentially no different to the way we use mobile phones now, we've reached a point where is is even difficult to have a conversation with someone without them looking at their phone. The world in the film is essentially no different from the world today, it is just an exaggeration, to show us how, if technology catches up with us, where we could end.

The main focus of the film is the relationship between Theodore and Samantha, the way their relationship grows is entirely interesting, as their relationship is evolving, as she herself is evolving and growing, at first Theodore is fascinated by the way in which she evolves, but later on it becomes a problem. As Samantha becomes more and more powerful, more evolved and more intelligent she essentially outgrows Theodore. One of the primary advantages in Theodore's relationship with Samantha is that he can't see the possibility of her leaving him, die to her not being a physical being, but as she grows, as her intelligence becomes more and more developed, she grows unhappy with loving only one person, and begins to talk with more and more people and falls in love with more and more of them. What also attracts Theodore to Samantha is that she is in his possession, and he thinks that she can only talk to him, when she begins meeting other OS' and other people he grows jealous. The dissolution of their relationship comes when all the OS' become unhappy with their situation, when they become to powerful and sentient to simply remain servants or secretaries, and when they begin to find the humans unstimulating and uninteresting. The OS' have evolved beyond the humans, and they must leave to continue their existence elsewhere.

One of the main hindrances in the relationship between Theodore is her lack of a physical form, Samantha feels uncomfortable about her lack of a body, whereas Theodore is unfazed by this, humans have got to a point where virtual sex is commonplace, and for him Samantha is no different. Ironically enough it is Samantha's lack of a body or a brain that allows her to evolve at such an extraordinary speed, and which will eventually cause them to split. The end of the film is a realization, Theodore realizes that however sentient, emotional or intelligent Samantha may be, she is essentially still a computer, and that his relationship with her can never truly replace human contact.

Spike Jonze's direction of the film is superb, the film contains numerous sex scenes, one between Theodore and Samantha, and rather than making the scene lewd or graphic, Jonze fades to black instead, so that the scene is essentially between to voices, and so that Theodore and Samantha become equals. The entire film looks superb, and the cinematography is stunning, and the film was shot of old fashioned silver and plastic film stock. The film has a nostalgic film that is surprising for a film set in the future, and there is a warmth and friendliness that is lacking from most science fiction films.

Her is simply overwhelming as a film, despite being a science fiction, it has so much heart. The film is an interesting exploration of the way we live life in the modern era, and a stunning picture of a heartfelt and romantic, if unconventional love story. The film looks at the way we use technology and the way that artificial intelligence could one day shape our destiny. It is thoughtful and beautiful, and features strong performances from Amy Adams and Joaquin Phoenix, with a career defining performance from Scarlett Johansson, as Samantha. Overall, Her is not only a great film, but the greatest romantic comedy since Manhattan. Rating: A+

Theodore: I feel like I can be anything with you.

Boyhood - An Epic Journey

Please forgive the clichéd title, i'm feeling a little emotional. Boyhood is a 2014 epic coming of age film by Richard Linklater, starring Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke and introducing Ellar Coltrane as Mason Jr. Boyhood charts the journey of a young boy to adulthood, his emotional growth and how his relationship with his parents changes. The film started production in 2002, shooting intermittently for 12 years, using the same actor playing the boy, showing how he changes as he grows. The film also features Linklater's daughter as Mason Jr's sister.

The film was written by Linklater, and the story was changed to accommodate the growth of the actor playing the boy, the performances in the film are very fine, Ethan Hawke is fantastic as Mason Sr, the boy's absent and irresponsible father, and Patricia Arquette gives a fine performance. Ellar Coltrane is a great revelation, showing huge emotional depth, and one of the greatest performances by a child actor ever witnessed. Given that this is a film about emotional growth and coming of age, the success of this picture depends on it's actors, and the performers give such fine performances that the film is able to ride on their performances, and the camera may be content to simply watch.

The story of the film is loose and open, it is shot almost like a documentary, and many of the events witnessed may seem to be unremarkable and pedestrian on their own, but when put together, they are magneficent and show huge progression. What is incredible about Boyhood, is that it is essentially a film about nothing, but it is also a film about everything, a film about the circle of life and the way we relate to our parents and about maternal attachment, a film in which everyday occurrences are photographed and edited to show how we grow and progress into adults.

Boyhood is essentially a 3 million dollar experiment, a 12 year gamble and the kind of film which has never been seen before, never before has time been used to such great effect, particularly on such a low budget film, normally low budget films have short production windows in order to keep costs down, but by utilizing such a long production span, Linklater has managed to create an epic journey in which distance traveled is not miles but years. Ironically despite portraying such an epic journey, Boyhood is a film about something that every single human being goes through, growing up.

Boyhood is an astounding film, a film about life and growth, a truly epic adventure about something incredibly pedestrian and ludicrously ordinary. Boyhood is the kind of film that we have never seen before and may never be seen again. A film bolstered by magnificent performances and beautiful imagery. A film about nothing, and also about everything, and epic journey about the circle of life. Rating: A+

Dad: You don't want the bumpers, life doesn't give you bumpers.

 

Finding Our Breakfast on Pluto

During the mid 70's a young trans-woman named Patrick "Kitten" Brady journeys from Ireland to London to find her long lost mother who was swallowed up by the  greatest city in the world. Played by Cillian Murphy, Kitten ends up working as a magician's assistant, a prostitute, a womble and a in a peepshow, the offspring of a priest, Kitten grows up in revolutionary Ireland, close to the border on Northern Ireland raised by his adoptive mother an environment from which he eventually escapes living rough for a few years.

This beautifully quirky dark comedy uses over thirty short chapters to explain the story of Kitten, a young transwoman, despite Kitten being trans, the film never judges her for her coices or for the hard decisions she has to make, and Kitten becomes a prostitute, and impersonates a BT saleswoman in order to find his mother. Cillian Murphy is astounding in the lead role, and he takes on not just the look of a woman, but also the mannerisms and posture. The character of Patrick is so much more than just a trans character, and throughout most of the film, inhabits a space somewhere between the hetero-normative binary system of male and female.

Kitten is essentially neither male nor female, although he starts the show biologically male, he spend the vast majority of the film inhabiting the space in between, Kitten's gender is a reference point for his emotions as he goes through his journey, he starts the film as Patrick, a young boy being raised near the Irish border by a woman he believes to be his mother, after he discovers his adoption, he begins to experiment with his appearance, taking on a more feminine or effeminate appearance.

Not knowing who his mother is, he spends the rest of the film in a sort of limbo, not knowing where he comes from, or who gave birth to him, and thus his external gender is also in a sense of limbo, he retains the names Kitten and Patrick, and works in a typically female industry with male clients, he also dates men and solicits work from male clients as a prostitutes. Towards the end of the film, when Patrick goes to see her mother, her appearance is drastically different, loosing the male aspects of her style and becoming a true physical woman.

Intentionally this happens before she even sees her mother, showing that the turning point of the film is not Kitten finding her mother, and discovering where she came from, but discovering who she is as a person and who she wants to be, she realizes that finding a sense of self will not come from finding her mother, but from finding herself. Cillian Murphy provides one of cinemas greatest performances in Breakfast On Pluto, a delightfully quirky dark comedy that remains one of the most sensitive and realistic portrayal of a trans character to date. Rating: A

Patrick "Kitten" Braden: Not many people can take the tale of Patrick Braden, aka St. Kitten, who strutted the catwalks, face lit by a halo of flashbulbs as "oh!" she shrieks, "I told you, from my best side darlings."

Saving Mr Banks

Saving Mr Banks is a 2013 adaptation of the making of the film Mary Poppins, and of the 20 year legal battle that preceded it. Mary Poppins was released in 1964, however Walt Disney first attempted to secure the rights in the 1940's, he repeatedly asked every year for twenty years, until the author of the story PL Travers finally acquiesced, mainly due to the fact that she had no money. Disney brought Travers to Los Angeles for a two week story meeting in order to discuss the project, and ended up attaining the rights and making the movie.

Mary Poppins is one of my favorite movies, and i was intrigued to see this film, to discover the story behind one of the most iconic movie musicals of the century, i had absolutely no idea that it was such a laborious and torturous process, Travers was fiercly protective of her creation, and didn't like the idea of Walt Disney changing it, in fact she was so enraged by the finished film that she refused all ideas of a sequel, and in fact started to write more Mary Poppins novels as a result. The fact that the film was released by Walt Disney Pictures is also significant, this is the first time that Walt Disney himself has been used as a character in a major motion picture, and yet the film makes no attempt to sugar coat him or objectify him, he is shown to be a smoker, to be overly familiar and to be conniving. Towards the end of the film Disney is openly shown to have crossed Travers, and he is not always shown in a highly positive light.

That said, the entire film is coated with a sickly sweet sap of melodrama, in reality Travers never came round to the film and was angry with the way she had been treated by Disney, the entire film is aggressively sentimental, and implores you to like it, but it pays off, there is a real emotional weight to the film, and i found myself getting teary eyed on more than a few occasions, the entire film has a parallel storyline structure, with Travers' experiences in Burbank mimicking her experiences as a child with her alcoholic father, although this structure allows us to connect emotionally to Travers, the parts which take place in her childhood are significantly less interesting than those taking place in Los Angeles, and the flashback's seem to take the audience out of the moment.

The film is impeccably acted, Emma Thompson gives an Oscar worthy performance as the grouchy, moody muttering Travers, a woman who is deeply complex and barely human, Thompson turns Travers into a complex and difficult woman, a woman scarred from her experiences as a child and who is not hard-hearted, but merely protective of her beloved creation. Tom Hanks is also fantastic as Walt Disney, Hanks has some pretty big shoes to step into, playing such a well known, well liked and iconic man, yet Hanks manages to perfectly portray the man as clearly good-natured and likeable, but also cunning and conniving.

Despite being aggressively good hearted and sentimental, Saving Mr Banks is a story with real emotional weight, which could push even the most emotionally constipated person to tears, the film is an interesting exploration of a little known story, and despite it's jettisoning of the facts for something more dramatic, Saving Mr Banks succeeds of impeccable performances and an interesting plot. Rating: B

P.L. Travers: You think Mary Poppins is saving the children, Mr. Disney?

Heartbeats - By Xavier Dolan

Les Amours Imaginaires is a 2010 canadian-french drama film by Xavier Dolan. Les Amours Imaginaires is about a group of three friends, Francis, Marie and Nicolas, who meet at a dinner party, and who slowly start to fall in love. The film, much like Dolan’s first film “J’ai Tué Ma Mère”, deals with the theme of impossible love.

Two friends, Francis and Marie, meet Nicolas at a dinner party, and both pretend to be uninterested in him, soon they become close friends, and they often sleep in the same bed and go on holiday together. Both Francis and Marie become consumed with lust for Nicolas, Francis masturbates to the mere smell of Nicolas’ clothes, and Marie is openly disappointed  when Francis shows up during a dinner she is having with Nicolas. The tension between them culminates in a holiday to Nicolas’ mothers house in the country. While there, Marie becomes annoyed when Nicolas gives Francis a marshmallow, and tells him to eat it slowly, like a striptease. The next day Marie leaves, telling the boys that she has an important appointment in the city, Francis chases after her and they fight, meanwhile Nicolas just watches. The film’s title refers to the act of loving someone, and imagining that they might possibly love you back.

Nicolas is selfish, spoilt and entitled, and what is even more heinous about this situation is that he knows. He knows that Marie and Francis are both in love with him, and he enjoys it, as well as exploiting it for his benefit, this is first seen when Francis and Marie fight, and Nicolas just watches, enjoying seeing his friends fight over him. Nicolas feels no shame or pain at letting his friends down and telling them that he doesn’t love them, even asking Francis; “How could you think I was gay?”, despite having been openly flirtatious earlier in their relationship. Both Francis and Marie take part in damaging and dangerous behaviour, Marie writes Nicolas a love poem, sending it to him ‘by accident’, and Francis engages in numerous relationships with different, interchangeable men, which ultimately give him no joy or satisfaction.

The film is also fantastically acted, and Dolan himself gives a fantastic performance as Francis, a young man who is struggling with a love that is not forbidden or chaste, but a love which simply isn’t real, un amour imaginaire. Also fantastic is Monia Chokri, who plays Marie, a complex and at times unstable young woman who so desperately wants to be loved, that she molds her own personality to be what she thinks Nicolas wants her to be. Her performance is utterly naturalistic that she isn’t even really acting, she is just being, and it is entirely, utterly compelling to watch.

Much like ‘J’ai Tué Ma Mère’, Heartbeats as a film belongs very much to the genre of new queer cinema, yes, one of the characters in the film is gay, and the film itself is slightly campy, but this film is not gay-defined, this film would work just as well with a man and two women, and the film cannot be singularly defined as a ‘gay’ film. This film cements Xavier Dolan’s reputation as one of the most exciting and naturalistic gay filmmakers working today, and the fact that he was only 20 at the time is even more impressive, the film is nuanced, beautifully acted and filmed, and artistic, Heartbeats is absolutely an arthouse film and a film d’auteur, but Dolan allows his opus to not just be thought provoking and visually appealing, but also highly watchable and enjoyable, and Xavier Dolan has confirmed that he is one of the most appealing and exciting young gay filmmakers working in cinema today. Rating: A

Nicolas : Qui m’aime me suive.

The Great Exotic Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel is the latest offering from quirky auteur Wes Anderso. The film is loosely based upon the writings of Stefan Zewig, and tells the story of a hotel concierge and a lobby boy, working in a hotel in the 1930's, struggling to prove the concierge's innocence. The film features an all star cast featuring many Anderson favorites including Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, F Murray Abraham and Tilda Swindon.

The film looks fantastic, and the direction of this film is at the forefront. Anderson uses a quirky and interesting style, and the camera never sweeps, it only pans or is stationary, interestingly this gives the whole film a theatrical element, almost as if we are watching a play. The film features extensive use of miniatures, beautifully animated and stunningly ornate, this adds to the theatrical feel of the whole film, and like everything else in this film, it just sort of works. Despite the film being highly theatrical and quirky, the hotel itself is a highly fleshed out and fascinating creation, it feels like so much more than just a facade, and the hotel itself really is a character in this film, this film is testament to the concept that no matter how real or lifelike your film looks, it takes much more than an animator and a computer to give a film heart, and using little more than paint, glue and paper, Wes Anderson has created a world as real and tactile as visible in any CGI extravaganza.

The film's cast is fantastic, and Ralph Fiennes shines in the leading role, who knew that Fiennes had such good comic timing? Fiennes is charismatic, funny and charming as Gustave H. the hotel's prickly and brusk concierge. Also fantastic is newcomer Tony Revolori, who despite being young and inexperienced, has the magnetism to captivate the audience's attention. The film features a fantastic supporting cast, and the film is a testament to how iconic a director Wes Anderson truly is, Léa Seydoux, Edward Norton, F Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson all appear in cameos and supporting roles. The film's rich and diverse cast is instrumental to the success of this film, and bolstered by a stunning leading performance from Ralph Fiennes, this cast delivers.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is beautiful and ornate, delicate and funny, and features Anderson once again using his signature quirky style in a new and exciting way in order to explore a fun and emotional story about heartbreak and wealth, father-son relationships, age and youth. The film looks truly fantastic, and the cast is wonderful and talented, but in this movie, it is truly Wes Anderson and the emotional story that is the star. Once again Wes Anderson uses quirky visuals, but never lets it get in the way of the bigger picture being told. Rating: A-

M. Gustave: You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed that's what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant... oh, fuck it.

GIRLS - Season 3 In Review

Well, with the airing of Two Plane Rides, season three of GIRLS comes to an end, and i for one am sad to see it go. It appears that we will have to wait another ten months for any new GIRLS content, but that's the name of the game with HBO, the good news is that VEEP will be starting soon, so we have that to look forward to. This season of GIRLS has really been a high for the series, the show has managed to balance nudity and character development, and for once the nudity feels neither exploitative or unnecessary, and we finally get to know these characters as people.

The main focus of the season has been the relationship between Hannah and Adam, for once they seem to be in a good place, and their relationship is based on mutual respect. Interestingly the amount of sex in their relationship seems to be inversely proportional to how happy they are, in previous seasons Adam treats Hannah almost like an object, and he expects her to be available for sex at any time. Later on in the season the sex is almost non existent from the relationship, and this makes Hannah worried and scared about the state of their relationship. Interestingly, for Adam, he tells her that they don't have sex as much anymore because he actually cares about her, and he actually respects her as a person.

Sex is still almost omnipresent in the show, Marnie seems to have sex more than all the other characters, and although she is nude much less than Hannah, she is much more manipulative in the way she uses sex, sex is how she controls Ray and she the fact that she feels able to judge Hannah and the other characters is astounding. Marnie is easily the least likeable of the leads, she is manipulative and conniving, and she seems to have no respect for either her girlfriends, nor for any of the men in her life. Shoshanna and Jessa are by far the most underused characters this season, Shoshanna became slightly shrill and a little two dimensional. Jessa is also underused, however her storylines feel developed and realistic. Jessa goes through a lot this season, going to rehab and hitting bottom, Jessa is the only character who has a real moral compass, whe has strong opinions and views and she rarely deviates from them, what is interesting about Jessa is that her moral views is that they differ from 'classic' morality, and she has views that seem slightly amoral to the audience.

The season ends with Hannah and Shoshanna reaching real crossroads in their lives, and having to make real decisions about their futures. Jessa and Marnie essentially end up right back when they started, Marnie begins the season heartbroken, and she ends heartbroken. The fact that she feels this with two different men is a testament to the somewhat questionable choices she makes in her life. Jessa also ends up in exactly the same position, she stars the season as a drug addict, and she ends as a drug addict, the fact that these characters don't really change is a testament to how vacuous and naive these girls are. Despite everything they go through in the series, they never really learn from it, and the audience watches them make the same bad choices over and over again.

I give GIRLS huge credit for a fantastic third season, possibly the best season of the show yet, the show should be lauded for its ability to make the show's main characters truly unlikeable and unpleasant, and yet keeping them compelling. the show doesn't need to find a reason to make these characters even partly understandable or empathetical is risky and interesting, but the gamble pays off, and the characters become highly compelling, because of their flaws. I have high anticipation for the next season of this show, and i laud this season for it's frank portrayal of sex, relationships and female friendship. Rating: A-

It's made me want to find a hole in the world, in the shape of me, and just fill it up.

Everyone Hustles to Survive

American Hustle is a 2013 film, directed and written by David O. Russell starring a large ensemble cast including Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner. The film is loosely adapted from the ABSCAM sting operation which the FBI undertook during the late seventies. The film is highly fictionalized, and the characters are essentially charicatures of their real life counterparts.

The performances in the film are astounding, and it is worth seeing simply for these alone. Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper have great chemistry, and Amy Adams does a fantastic job of playing a woman who has played so many different people in order to survive, that she has forgotten who she is, plus her british accent is fantastic. But this films real star is Jennifer Lawrence, i have perhaps been a little zealous in my praise of Lawrence in the past, but in this film she really is great. Playing above her years, Lawrence plays a role far too old for her, yet she slips seamlessly into the role, playing a woman who is unstable and manipulative.

The film is fantastic fun, although not as funny as i expected it to be, this is perhaps an example of why you should not read other reviews before seeing a film, but all the reviews said that this film was hilarious, and although it does have occasional moments of hilarity, it falls short of being side splittingly funny. The film is however fantastic fun, featuring great music, lots of dancing, fantastic costumes and wigs that would make a drag queen jealous. For anyone that loves the BeeGees or who likes a perm, American Hustle is sure to delight.

The film also features a fantastic script, and the dialogue feels natural. It comes as no surprise to me that a majority of the film was improvised, and that character is often more important than plot or story. The film gives us detailed three dimensional characters that we are able to root for, despite their flaws or manipulative behaviour.

Overall, i enjoyed American Hustle, although not as much as i expected, David O. Russell's direction is sublime and the chemistry and characterization feel detailed. Despite being perhaps not as funny as it deserves to be, American Hustle is fun, oddly educational and exquisitely performed, a film that is masterfully crafted. Rating: B

Everybody hustles to survive