Interruption to FilmsrRuss

Just in case some people think that I have fallen off the planet, I am going on holiday for a couple of weeks. Yay!
Normal service will resume towards the end of October, starting with the films I saw at the end of September!

Take care everyone.

Memento (2000)

Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) suffers from Anterograde Amnesia; a condition which means that he can’t form new memories. His condition started one night at home when he was hit on the head by an assailant who was strangling his wife to death. Leonard spends the duration of the film trying to find his wife’s killer. Being a tricky thing to do with short-term memory loss, Leonard comes up with unique ways to carry out his investigation.

Christopher Nolan’s second major film as director is very cleverly told, and is really an indication that as a director he is not afraid to challenge audiences, believing us to actually be quite intelligent. Based on the short story “Memento Mori” written by Chris’ brother Jonathan, Memento is really a very linear story; however, the film is not so straightforward. One section of the film is in black & white and plays forward, being concerned with Leonard’s background; the first part of the film essentially. The “second” part of the film, shot in colour, is interspersed with the “first” part, but the narrative is backwards. So the film starts at the end, and the two sections meet in the middle, at the end of the film.

This may initially sound like quite a pretentious thing to do, but it is very clever and actually makes complete sense with respect to the story. Running chapters of the story backwards (in reverse order of course, not actually backwards, that would be nuts) means that for any given scene, how Leonard arrives at that situation is unknown. This is exactly how Leonard feels because he can’t form new memories. This goes beyond empathising with the character, because of this narrative technique we are afflicted with the same condition as Leonard. Fantastic.

Guy Pearce is excellent as Leonard, being helpless yet determined, and often the voice of his thoughts as he tries to figure out what is going on. The two main support actors are also great. Joe Pantoliano is perfect as Teddy, the cop that is helping Leonard in his investigation. His exuberance balances Leonard’s quiet and calculated approach; he plays the fine line between help and hindrance very well, so that we are never quite sure of his motives. Carrie-Ann Moss, is also very good as the girl stuck in a bad relationship, who sees Leonard as a means to an end. I should also mention some lovely cinematography by long-term Chris Nolan favourite Wally Pfister; particularly some of the moody “colour” interiors, and the high-contrast shots for the black & white sequences, which perhaps all add to the confusion felt by Leonard.

It is certainly a film that demands a re-watch, I think one of the DVD extras allows you to watch the film in chronological order, but that of course lessens the impact of it all.

Tombstone (1993)

Unfortunately I'm writing this so long after I saw the film (about 5 months) that I've forgotten most of it! I do remember that Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) moves out to Tombstone, AZ, having given up being a bad-ass Sheriff; but he can't get away from it all as easy as he hoped. No matter how he tries, he can't keep from antagonising bad guys (of which you would imagine there were quite a few in a place called Tombstone), he makes enemies and there is a chain of events that leads up to a shootout at the OK corral.

The only other thing I can really remember is that Val Kilmer was surprisingly good as the sick and ailing Doc Holliday. Maybe if I watch this again I'll post a better review in the comments below. I do remember it was quite enjoyable though!

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

“Oh, good. For a moment there I thought we were in trouble”

This 1969 film directed by George Roy Hill recounts some the escapades and close calls of two of the most enigmatic outlaws in American history. I only saw this film for the first time recently and fell in love with it; and although I generally think westerns are brilliant as a genre, this is something very different from most of them. So here are 5 reasons why I love Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.

1) Chemistry

Of course I’m referring to the onscreen chemistry between Paul Newman (Butch) and Robert Redford (Sundance), rather than an H2O2 kind of way. Both actors are fantastic, and the banter between them feels so natural and organic (chemistry again!). Newman is lively, cocky, quick-witted, and looks like he’s really enjoying himself. Robert Redford is a lot more brooding, and has many a smouldering look (if blue eyes can be smouldering).

I think that there are two scenes early on that really demonstrate the characteristics of these criminals, and their relationship. The first is a card game that Sundance is playing with two other guys in a gloomy bar. Throughout the scene the camera is fixed on Sundance as we see how calm he is under pressure, with total belief in himself. We also find out that his reputation precedes him, as the other gambling fella changes his attitude when he finds out his opponent is the Sundance Kid. Robert Redford is very good, and his eye-acting is equally good! Initially his eyes are flicking between his cards and his opponents, but soon they are just staring out into the middle distance in incredulity; he really can’t believe this guy is accusing him of cheating and is now challenging him.

The second is a scene where Butch’s dominance of his gang is challenged by Harvey Logan. Butch has a quick scrap with him (obviously he comes out on top), but the way he wins is by quick thinking and (sort of) cunning. This really sums up Butch. Just before the fight, there is a brilliant little exchange between Butch and Sundance. Logan announces that if he beats and kills Butch then Sundance is welcome to stay. Butch whispers to Sundance: “Listen, I don't mean to be a sore loser, but when it's done, if I'm dead, kill him.” Sundance simply says: “Love to.” and waves like this:

Fantastic!
Certainly a lot of the best scenes have an element of humour in them as Paul and Bob play off each other, such as the scene before they leap from a cliff into a river, or just before the iconic last scene when Butch suggests that they should go to Australia.

2) Cinematography

Thanks to Conrad Hall (who won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work here) the whole film is gorgeous; as well as wonderful vistas the characters are beautifully framed, and often shot from behind foliage/buildings. Having watched the “Making of” documentary on the DVD, it seems that Conrad liked to shoot into the sun giving the film an overexposed washed out feel to it; a lot of it has a sepia look to it which matches so well with all the still photographic sections of the film.

As I've already mentioned, near the beginning of the film is a scene where Sundance is playing cards with two other fellas (one is Sam Elliott but you don’t really see him). A lot of the exchange between the players is done in one shot, focussing on Sundance (this time being shot from behind the other players), and the lighting for the whole scene is very subdued, adding to the uncertainty of the outcome. Especially brilliant is the last shot as Butch and Sundance burst out guns firing, whereupon the picture freezes, the colour bleeds out to leave a sepia image that the camera then pulls away from. Brilliant and iconic.

3) Script

Of course, one of the reasons that the banter between Butch and Sundance is so good is the quality of the script. Throughout the film the writing is sharp, witty and lively. Of course it helps that Newman and Redford’s on screen relationship is such that the script really comes alive. However, as Newman says in interviews, the script was so good that it would have worked with almost any actors. Presumably it was this genuine quality that the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saw in writer William Goldman’s script when he won the award for Best Writing.

4) We’ve been there!

Apologies for bringing up our amazing holiday again, but films become so much more fun when you can specifically picture being in that landscape. Some sections of the film were shot in an abandoned town called Grafton in Utah, just round the corner from Zion National Park. Unfortunately we only discovered after we had left the area that Grafton was only 5 miles down the road from where we stayed! But some of it is shot in Zion National Park itself:

5) Woodcock / You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!

Woodcock is a minor recurring character, whose role it is to safeguard the safe of money on the Union Pacific Railroad that Butch’s gang periodically hold up. The fact that having blown him up once, Butch recognises his voice when they next hold up a train is a great touch. Unfortunately for Woodcock, having reinforced the safe, more dynamite is required with alarming results:

One thing that you might not like: The slightly silly scene where Paul Newman rides around on a new bicycle, while Katharine Ross sits on the handlebars and Burt Bacharach sings “Raindrops keep falling on my head”! It’s a fairly ridiculous scene even if the song won the Oscar for Best Song!

So there you go, that’s my love letter to Butch and Sundance. What do you think? Is it that good, or am I seeing it through rose tinted glasses after my holiday?

Drive (2011)

Drive follows the story of a nameless Driver (Ryan Gosling), a Hollywood stuntman who, in his spare time, hires himself out as a getaway car driver. He has very strict rules: for 5 minutes he is at the disposal of the criminals, no matter what occurs; 1 minute either way and the crooks are on their own. He doesn’t carry a gun, he just drives. This serves him well, despite looking bit bored with life. However, his life is altered in a way he couldn't predict when he meets his next door neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her husband Standard (Oscar Issac) who has just been released from prison.

Despite the film being called Drive, there wasn’t too much driving (fine by me, I’m not a petrol head by any means) and it certainly doesn’t glamourise cars. When Ryan is driving, the film is kept fresh and dynamic by sharp editing and clever uses of the camera by director Nicolas Winding Refn. The film is very stylish (not the cars particularly, except for the Mustang), but just in the slick way it is filmed. Ironically I didn’t think that Ryan’s character was that stylish; he constantly wears a jacket with gold embroidered scorpion on the back and has a toothpick permanently poking out of the side of his mouth.

The focus of the first half of the film is the growing relationship between Ryan and Carey, and they are both brilliant. Ryan is always very cool and calm, and having come across as being fairly disinterested and bored with life, he starts to come to life as he gets to know Irene. Carey Mulligan is very good once again, she is very cute and bashful, not knowing how to play the relationship with the Driver, knowing that her husband is getting out of jail.

Having slowly built up the relationship in the first half of the film, there are some tremendously shocking moments in the second half; again the Driver showing how cool and calm (and lethal) he is under pressure. The film really accentuates the shocking moments by turning down all the sound prior to the scene that will make you jump out of your seat. The mob element was nicely done, Ron Perlman was fairly scary and Albert Brooks was very scary. Oscar Isaac played Standard in a very clever way, I really didn't know how he was going to react to the Driver's relationship with his wife. He showed that it wasn't a fluke that he was the best actor in Sucker Punch.

A great movie that was very well made, with the right balance of character development and hard hitting action. This film really goes to show how a simple concept, well written characters, and good film making can make a stand out film. Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan are both fantastic, though I think I would have appreciated a little more time spent with Mulligan’s character because she’s a great actress. I didn’t expect to be quite so shocked, but there were moments when I had my hand to my mouth in surprise. Definitely one of the most original and well-crafted films this year.