“What is really going to matter, I believe, is what the audience says. Because they’re the ones who are buying tickets. They’re the ones who want to see more of this kind of story or not and so the audience’s voice is the loudest and after this weekend, the audience, at least partly, will have spoken.”
- Henry Cavill, on the unfavorable reviews plaguing his new film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Although touted as one of the year’s most critically disliked movies, it has been a massive success at the box office this weekend, pulling in $170.1 million, making it the sixth-biggest domestic opening ever.
fEatUredTraiLeR LAST DAYS IN THE DESSERT [2016, US - English]
Ewan McGregor takes on a challenging dual role as both Jesus and The Devil in his latest film Last Days in the Desert. A drama about the temptation of Christ, the film is written and directed by Rodrigo García (Albert Nobbs 2011). Premiering at Sundance in 2015 to mostly positive reviews, the film also stars Tye Sheridan, Ciarán Hinds and Ayelet Zurer. Looking forward to the film with its photography being helmed by Emmanuel Lubezki. Big fan of the maestro who has won three consecutive Oscars for his cinematography on Gravity (2013), Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015).
fiLmReviEw •• Foreign Film Edition •• SUTOPAR THIKANA (HER OWN ADDRESS) [2015, BANGLADESH - Bengali] Sutopar Thikana, an adaptation of independent film-maker Proshoon Rahman’s own book (Ishhorer Ichhe Nei Boley), delves into the Muslim Bangaldeshi women's position in the patriarchal society, where their fate solely lies in the hands of the men in their lives. Sutopar (Aparna Ghosh) the eponymous role, goes through different four stages in her life where she finds herself succumbing to her fate as a woman.
Her carefree childhood quickly is jolted and dragged her apart from the comfort of her parents' care when she reaches adolescence, deemed old enough to be married. Subjected to a rather demeaning "interview" process, Sutopar reluctantly completes but passes with flying colors to be the wife of an educated man (Jayanta Chatterjee) from a well-off family. Indisposed to the new conditions living with dutiful deference as the daughter-in-law, Sutopar nevertheless learns and masters her tasks and chores in no time. When her husband gets his own place in the city, Sutopar's "address" changes again, however this time to seemingly brighter prospects, where she gets to indulge in the privacy and affections as a young couple. Soon they are bestowed with a child, but it isn't long before her loving husband passes away, forcing her to vacate their apartment and move in with her brother.
Unable to take charge of her life, left helpless with her late husband's depleting pension funds to raise a son, Sutopar's life soon switches again from the hands of her brother to her now grown-up son (Shahadat Hossain), who convinces her to let him use her late husband's property to set up his own business. Sutopar's fate of never ever having an "address" to call her own continues, until one day she finds herself boarding a train with an unknown destination, coming to a realization about making decisions for herself and nothing else. Released on Mother's Day and a tribute to womanhood of South Asia, Her Own Address is the National Grant winner Bangladeshi Feature Film. Though thought provoking with a profound message of women empowerment, a calling for women to take charge of their own lives before ending up as powerless nomads, the film unfortunately lacks strength in its deliverance, having to rely heavily on narration and its soundtrack. Ghosh delivers a competent performance transitioning from the young, spirited Sutopar to a helpless old woman finding herself traveling aimlessly in a train. A heartwarming film about a woman longing for a permanent "address" to call her own, director Rahman gives an adequate film infused with simplicity and honest exposition of the everyday lives of the middle-income in Bangladesh.
Director Jeremy Saulnier's 2013 thriller Blue Ruin met critical acclaim and won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in the same year. Last year he collaborated with Patrick Stewart in his horror flick Green Room, where we get to see the darkest side of the Star Trek star ever. Stewart stars as a club owner who leads a terrifying killing crew going against an unsuspecting but resilient young punk band after they accidentally witnessed an act of violence which they weren't meant to see.
fiLmReviEw LONDON HAS FALLEN [2016, US - English] Antoine Fuqua’s 2013 action thriller Olympus Has Fallen has been a box office success, reaping in more than $160 million against a $70 million production budget. Despite its crummy premise of one superhero who outwits and defeats all the villains and single-handedly saves the White House from being taken over by terrorists, Fuqua managed to make it one of the few full-blown action films that I have enjoyed. Minus the poor scripting, it does boast a series of competent action sequences and performances by the strong supporting casts.
Iranian-born Swede Babak Najafi takes on the sequel titled London Has Fallen, and expands the battleground from the White House to the capital of England. Previous main casts return including Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster and Melissa Leo. In a world where all Westerners are innocent targets of terrorism and Muslims are single-minded extremists, the show opens with the demise of Britain’s Prime Minister as the premise for the gathering of all the world leaders, obliviously walking into a trap of grand scale massacre. Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Butler) is on the verge of resignation following the expecting of his first child with wife (Radha Mitchell), as he finds himself thrown into the massive terrorist carnage striking London city while escorting the US President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart) to the funeral. As we watch the decimation of London’s biggest landmarks, one can’t help but be disconcerted with just how blatantly xenophobia and American jingoism are paraded throughout. And to make things worse, the whole ruthless barrage is in fact the result of a man’s (terrorist mastermind Aamir Barkawi portrayed by Alon Moni Aboutboul) personal revenge towards the US President. Yes, why not. Scheming at great lengths including infiltrating the London police force, setting up a funeral to gather all the political leaders, annihilate half of London city, just to get to one single target. All in all a film that does not require much thinking, and not even half as entertaining as its predecessor.
British theatre director and producer Michael Grandage brings the 1978 National Book Award-winner Max Perkins: Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg to the big screens this June. Titled Genius, the biographical drama is glossy in its lead cast, with Colin Firth, Jude Law and Nicole Kidman; and co-stars Dominic West and Guy Pearce. Selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, the film chronicles Max Perkins's time as the book editor at Scribner, where he oversaw works by Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.
fiLmReviEw •• Foreign Film Edition •• DEEP IN THE HEART [2015, China - Mandarin] When his feature debut Deep In The Heart won Best Director and Best Feature Film at the International Film Festival Xining (FIFFX) in 2014, Beijing director Xin Yukun's name was still unknown in the industry. Not only did the film rake in 4.35 million yuan (US$685,000) in its first three days despite being made with a paltry budget of 1.7 million yuan (US$269,800), setting a new record for the highest box office accomplishment by an independent, domestically-produced movie in China; it continued to achieve critical acclaim, bagging awards locally and overseas including Best New Director at International Film Critics' Week during the 71st Venice International Film Festival and the PIAGET Award of Excellence at the 51th Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.
Originally titled The Coffin in the Mountain when it first ran on the festival circuit in 2014, the story centres around death and a coffin. Director Xin cleverly splits the film into a tri-linear format. We are first introduced to the estranged relationship between Weiguo (Huo Weimin) and his son Zongyao (Wang Xiaotian). From what seems to be a desperate plan for Zongyao to runaway from his village in Henan Province after accidentally killing a man, it triggers a series of events which seals his fate to his father in an unimaginable way. The discovery of the corpse on the outskirts of the village spins another two timelines which in a bizarre turn will find their own way of connecting, with different families claiming their linkage to the corpse. Li Qin (Sun Li), a woman who indulges in an affair with her ex-lover as she endures years of domestic violence. And finally, Weiguo who is well respected as the chief of the village, finds himself dragged into the crime scene and hopelessly attempts to clear his family's name and restore order to his village.
What is cleverly presented here is the linkage that binds the three stories together, whilst each character's quandary and self-interest are honestly arrayed and juxtaposed. By retelling the events from varying timelines and perspectives, we are given the story in pieces while at the same time entertained with the host of idiosyncratic characters and dark humor throughout. No doubt suffering from several missteps in his attempt to bring together an intense story within a crowded cast, Xin's debut emerges triumphant. Yes parts of the storytelling may be sluggish, scripting is not exactly tip-top, but I'm thoroughly entertained. Deep In The Heart is deeply engaging with its multitude of plotting and deception, a staggering witness to the calamity that sends us into the abyss of humanity.
fEatUredTraiLeR FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS [2016, UK, US - English]
Meryl Streep is back, starring in a biographical story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a socialite and heiress who becomes an opera singer known for her notorious bad singing skills. Directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen 2006, Philomena 2013), the comedy-drama also stars Grant, Simon Helberg, Nina Arianda and Rebecca Ferguson, and is scheduled for a May 6 release
fiLmsToLoOkOutFoR MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN [2016, US - English]
Let’s face it, Tim Burton has always sealed his name high on a pedestal especially in his weaving of dark, quirky fantasies, but he’s no stranger as well when it comes to big misses. He hasn’t really directed any solid films in the last ten years except for Amy Adam’s biographical drama Big Eyes last year. The only bearable thing about his 2012 horror-comedy Dark Shadows was Eva Green, and the two has reunited for another fantasy getaway. I’m a huge fan of Green, she tops my list for villainous, dark roles, surpassing even names like Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Julianne Moore or Cate Blanchett. Hence making this film my pick for fiLmsToLoOkOutFoR. Based on the 2011 novel by Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children is a fantasy adventure film starring (apart from Green) Asa Butterfield, Ella Purnell, Chris O'Dowd, Allison Janney, Terence Stamp, Kim Dickens, Rupert Everett, Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson. Written by Jane Goldman (2015 Kingsman: The Secret Service, 2011 X-Men: First Class), the story concerns a seemingly ordinary Jake who discovers a secret hideout helmed by Miss Peregrine, where she shelters a group of children with unusual abilities. Looks like Goldman has been tasked to reimagine her screenplay for X-Men but this time written for a child’s world. Soon Jake finds himself in a position where he has to defend Miss Peregrine’s children from a dark force. The film is slated for a Sept 30 release this year.
fEatUredTraiLeR THE ADDERALL DIARIES [2016, US - English]
After collaborating with Pamela Romanowsky in the 2012 drama film The Color of Time, James Franco approached her to direct an adaptation of Stephen Elliott's memoir The Adderall Diaries. Premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April last year, the gripping drama tells the story of an author (Franco) who is experiencing writer's block and an intensifying drug addiction as he spirals downwards into his obsession over a high-profile murder case. It is during this time that his hidden, dark childhood memories resurface as his distant and estranged father returns with his own story to tell, threatening not only his career but tipping him further off the edge. Co-starring Amber Heard & Christian Slater, The Adderall Diaries is slated for a limited release on April 15, 2016
fiLmReviEw •• Foreign Film Edition •• MOTHER OF GEORGE [2013, NIGERIA, US - English, Yoruba] Mother of George is a visually arresting film that captures the Nigerian culture in a western world. Director Andrew Dosunmu opens the film with a traditional Nigerian wedding, a profuse exhibit of joyous music, customary blessings and vestments bursting with dynamic colors. It is the union of Adenike (Danai Gurira) and Ayodele (Isaach De Bankolé), where within the wedding rituals and conversations you would appreciate the importance of respecting and preserving traditions in Ayodele's family. Family and guests anoint the bride with dollar notes, and Ayodele’s mother Ma Ayo (Bukky Ajayi) gives her blessings, citing “Adenike, you and your husband, nothing will ruin you two. You will give birth to a son. You will give birth to a daughter too. You will give birth to twins as well.” Soon Adenike is sitting the bedroom, while waiting for her husband to take her on their first night, she receives fertility beads from her mother-in-law. Along with it is a carrier that Ma Ayo used to carry her son on her back, asserting her demands again as she suggests that her daughter-in-law would carry her grandchild in it as well. The unborn grandchild is even given a name, George Babatunde Balogun. These opening ten minutes prepensely set the tone for the film, where fertility would be conceiving a breed of dilemma, turmoil and lies within the Nigerian family living in Brooklyn, as the newlyweds undergo a burdensome marriage that is not blessed with an offspring.
Dosunmu’s experience as a fashion creative director and photographer is definitely eminent in the film, adeptly translated into a richly textured story. Mother of George is visually exquisite, as Dosunmu weaves an array of exuberant colors, elaborate customs and still shots with off-centre framing into his film. I like the subtle yet absorbing soundtrack as well, from the faint Nigerian juju music in the background to the sound mix that helps build accentuations when needed. The filming is deliberately made to echo the characters’ sense of dislocation. "I wanted to show a New York completely different from what you usually see. What I really love about it is that many immigrants have their own oases in this metropolis,” Dosunmu who is an émigré himself shares (he moved to the city from Nigeria 18 years ago). He also explains that the camera follows Adenike in a way that is both claustrophobic and uncertain, with the intention to make the audience feel just like her. “We want to see more, but we can’t, and that’s how she feels; she wants more clarity, but she doesn’t have the solution."
The fertility drama is further accomplished with the profound acting, especially by the lead Gurira. The actress of Zimbabwean descent, known for her role in AMC’s TV series The Walking Dead, is a treat to watch. Her stoic face shows us her adamant pursue to make her family complete, yet your hearts will be stolen when you watch her breaking down as she struggles to conform to tradition. Coupled with eloquent writing by Darci Picoult, and breathtaking cinematography by Bradford Young, who won Cinematography Awards at the Sundance Film Festival for his work on Pariah (2011), Mother of George and Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013), Mother of George is evocative, equally stunning and heartbreaking to watch. It also co-stars Tony Okungbowa and Yaya Alafia.
fEatUredTraiLeR A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING [2016, US, Germany - English]
The last Tom Tykwer worked with Tom Hanks was a rather strange film called Cloud Atlas, co-directed with Wachowskis where he had Hanks playing several characters. The director of Run Lola Run (1998) and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) is back with another collaboration with Hanks in a German-American comedy drama film titled A Hologram For The King. Based on the 2012 novel of the same name written by Dave Eggers, the film tells the journey of a failed American salesman (Hanks) who travels to Saudi Arabia in a desperate attempt to save himself, by selling his idea to a wealthy monarch. Although unfamiliar and disorientating for him to adjust, the strange new land ends up helping him to rediscover himself. Set for April 22 release, the film co-stars Tom Skerritt and Sarita Choudhury
fiLmsToLoOkOutFoR •• Foreign Film Edition •• EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT [2015, COLUMBIA, VENEZUELA, ARGENTINA - Spanish, Portuguese, German, Catalan, Latin, Amazonian]
Inspired by the real-life journals of two explorers Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evans Schultes, Embrace The Serpent chronicles their journey traveling through the Colombian Amazon wilderness in search of the sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant, which could cure Theodor's chronic illness. Along this journey they form a life-affirming friendship with Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people. Directed by Ciro Guerra, it is Columbia's entry for the Best Foreign Film category at the 88th Academy Awards
fiLmReviEw ROOM [2015, Canada, Ireland, UK - English]
“This is not a horrifying film. The story we’re telling is about the extraordinary power of parent-child love,” author Emma Donoghue shared about her 2010 bestselling novel Room, and its adaptation into the gripping drama film (of the same title) which she wrote the screenplay as well. In the novel, the story is told from the point of view of five year-old Jack, who has spent his entire life kidnapped in a 10-by-10-ft garden shed with his mother. We all know about the nightmares when filmmakers attempt to translate celebrated novels onto the big screens, very few had actually succeeded. Donoghue was aware that her novel had become great inspiration to many women, mothers (especially single mothers), female victims, and many of her fans actually wanted more of “Ma”, even requesting for a prequel or a parallel narrative. So in a way, the 2015 film adaptation to me shifted the anchoring perspective and created the opportunity for “Ma” to step forward more. This can be a good or bad thing, as one of the main selling-points of the novel was how readers are deeply moved by experiencing the storyline from the cherubic, fragile and beguiling world of a five year-old. Some may want to hold on to that, which will not be the case in Lenny Abrahamson’s film. For me, the adaptation came off accomplished.
Although in a different way, it remains thoroughly absorbing and the performances by Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay are equally compelling. Being the slowest reader that I am, there are not many instances where I have the liberty to review a film with the knowledge from having read the novel version prior. Room is one of them, and I’m glad the film did not disappoint.
Regardless of its success, the film is far from an easy watch. Ma, or her real name Joy, is kept prisoner in the garden shed for seven years, consistently raped by her captor, Old Nick. It's into this oppressive and inadequate world that Jack has been born, as Ma devotes every second of her life in making him happy, creating their very own universe within the confined space, protecting him from the cold, brutal truth. Watching Jack living his entire life in the room with Ma, being the only "world" he knows, interacting with the only friends he has, the wardrobe, the lamp, the rug, can be really heartbreaking. Soon the time comes when Ma realises that she can no longer fully safeguard Jack's well-being and his psychological vulnerability is spreading like a ticking time-bomb.
Working from a screenplay by Donoghue herself, Abrahamson delivers the story with precision, both visually and psychologically. Donoghue absolutely nailed her adaptation, transforming her poignant tale into a different format, yet sufficiently, if not equally, gripping. There are several differences which did not deter the film from staying true to its source. The narration of Ma and Jack's lives prior the escape is definitely shorter, where the novel spends more time on how Ma constructs Jack's "world" in detail. There are lesser characters, giving Grandma and Leo (Step Grandpa) more focus in the film. Ma's rotten tooth kept by Jack as his "courage" also receives a different treatment, but I shall not elaborate further (no spoilers, of course). One of the strengths of Room is how it moves from grim to inspiring, the limited space will against all odds translate a powerful, gargantuan message.
