Tag Archives: film

It would be wrong of me to claim that this is a film review. If anything, it is a love letter. A love letter to the wonder that is cinema. The movies are the world’s great art form and quite often it is sold short. Sometimes by the people who watch the movies, who refuse to see something new that may not involve CGI robots or explosions. Sometimes by the movie industry itself, that incorrectly assumes that the cinema is about box office takings and keeping plots and methods of storytelling simple so then the audience doesn’t have to be inconvenienced by thinking.

On far too rare an occasion though, a film will come along that illustrates everything that is good about cinema. A film that amazes you. A film that makes you think. A film that stays with you for days after seeing it. A film that makes you realise just what an astounding medium cinema is. In my case, a film that lights a fire underneath me to pick up a pen or sit at a keyboard and write the words ‘fade in’ at the top of the page. For everyone, the list of films that achieve this is different. For me, David Cronenberg did it with “Crash,” Christopher Nolan did it with “Inception,” Quentin Tarantino did it with “Reservoir Dogs,” Park Chan Wook did it with “Oldboy,” Alfred Hitchcock did it with “Psycho,” Ridley Scott did it with “Alien,” and Ingmar Bergman did it with “The Seventh Seal.” And now, Steven McQueen has done it with “12 Years A Slave.”

It’s devastating then that I will probably never watch it again. It is that unflinching and difficult to watch that even distant memories of it are haunting. While watching it in the cinema, it’s difficult to resist hiding your eyes behind your hands while trying to pretend you are somewhere else. It’s an appropriate sensation, considering that Solomon (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is probably feeling the urge to do the same thing as he’s left hanging by his neck in a field, his feet stuttering around in the mud as he struggles to breathe while his fellow slaves continue working, unable to come to his aid. The same can be said towards the conclusion of the film, when Solomon gives a long lingering look directly into the camera. Directly at the audience. He’s pleading for help and for mercy. It feels like he’s tearing out your heart.

While the film covers a subject matter that requires a certain degree of sensitivity, director Steve McQueen handles it with intelligence. The plot itself is very simple. Solomon Northup is a carpenter and talented violinist living in New York with his wife and two children. He is approached by two businessmen who claim to be part of a travelling circus, and they want Solomon to join them as a professional musician. Flattered by their kindness and the opportunity, Solomon accepts their offer during a late evening meal. He drinks too much wine and gets drunk. When he wakes up, he’s in chains and being beaten for claiming to be a free man.

Solomon is sold to a plantation owner called Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch). While some of of his experiences on the plantation are scarring and brutal, Ford is ultimately one of the more gentle owners. He encourages Solomon to use his mind and help improve the way the plantation works. Ford celebrates with his slaves when Solomon constructs a method for using the nearby river. He allows Solomon to have his violin back, and tells him he hopes to hear him play it soon. It’s as close to happiness as Solomon will get in his ordeal. Half way through the film, Ford is forced to sell Solomon to another plantation owner called Epps (Michael Fassbender), and that’s when Solomon’s real nightmare starts. Epps prides himself on beating and trying to break his slaves. If the weight of the cotton the slaves pick doesn’t increase every day, they get whipped.

The majority of the film’s 134-minute length is dedicated to his time on Epps’ plantation. We mainly see his day-to-day life, where he works under the constant fear that violence and brutality is going to come his way. He and his fellow slaves never get a moment to think. They never get a moment to feel safe. They’re all living a life of fear and pain that seems to have only one escape route. Full credit has to be given to McQueen for the way he approaches this. He doesn’t opt to hint at the horrors or the fear. This isn’t supposed to be a fleeting sensation. This is a movie designed to linger and exhaust the audience. It is an exercise in raw human emotion. Solomon is a slave for 12 years, but with McQueen’s direction it feels like it could be a lifetime.

At no point are we given any indication about how much time has passed. Given his situation, would Solomon know himself? We interpret the world through his eyes, and for that reason time doesn’t have any meaning. McQueen makes it clear that for him, an image needs to be more than just something to look at. It has to effect the audience mentally and physically in order to meet McQueen’s demands. Every single second of ‘12 Years a Slave’ is effecting. That’s a cinematic achievement that is rarely achieved.

In a time when the majority of mainstream movies aim to impress and create awe with expensive but ultimately hollow images, it is something to be cherished when directors like Steve McQueen come along and make a movie like this. Movies after all are supposed to evoke the purest of human emotions, as indeed all art forms should. It’s not an easy thing to achieve, and when it happens, it like lightning in a bottle. It’s something that every screenwriter and every director should aim for.

So, let’s all raise a glass. To Ingmar Bergman. To Stanley Kubrick. To Alfred Hitchcock. To Quentin Tarantino. To Steven Spielberg. To Martin Scorsese. To Christopher Nolan. To Park Chan Wook. To Steve McQueen. Here’s to the movies. And to ‘12 Years a Slave’ – one of the greatest movies ever made.

Image reproduced from impawards.com
Video reproduced from YouTube / JoBlo.com

The term “War is Hell” could not describe this movie any better.  Lone Survivor stars Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Eric Bana and  and is the violent, painfully realistic, gut wrenching eyewitness account of an ill fated US Navy SEAL mission to capture a notorious Taliban leader.  The audience is taken on an exasperating ride as four US NAVY SEALS fight for their lives, for their country, and most of all for each other.  Based on the Based on the nonfiction book of the same name, Four SEALs are dropped into the mountains of Afghanistan in 2005 on a singular mission, the men prepare to engage their target but are discovered by goat herders.   An old man and two younger men.   The Seals are faced with a dilemma.  Do they kill the herders and live with the consequences as a casualty of war or consider the mission compromised.   They decide to release the herders, a fateful decision, scrap the mission and call for an evacuation, but communication is almost impossible to establish from their mountainous position. The SEALS move to higher ground and use a Satellite phone to reach base camp further exposing themselves.  Once communication is made the SEAL team hunker down and await pickup but it is not in time.  They are surrounded. They are soon set upon by a large group of Taliban fighters and realize that escape is no longer an option.  The SEALs are in a fight for their lives.  They literally have to fight their way off of the mountain by jumping OFF the mountain.  They men are riddled with bullets as they engage the Taliban in a hell raising firefight.  But they push on and fight their way off the mountain precipices.  Down the mountain they go tumbling, breaking bones on each impact, bullets flying by, Taliban warriors in hot pursuit.  The Seal team is picked off one by one until their is only a lone  survivor, Corpsman Marcus Luttrell (Mark Walhberg) .  Saved by a mortar explosion that has tossed him into a crevice into cover, out of sight and in very bad shape.  When Luttrel awakens he musters the strength to walk his battered and broken body, with a severely broken leg,  out of the mountain pass.  Luttrell pauses to drink from a stream and is discovered by Afghan villagers.  Thinking the end is near,  he is in disbelief as  the villagers offer to help Luttrell.  They take him to their village and send help and administer aid to Luttrel.   But Luttrels ordeal isn’t over just yet.  The Taliban has discovered him in the village.  His  life is in the hands of his Afghan protectors as they fight against the Taliban in one final battle for his life.  Go see Lone Survivor.

Poster courtesy of Wikipedia.com, trailer courtesy of trailer addict

American Hustle, directed by David O. Russell, who also directed last years critically acclaimed “Silver Linings Playbook,” has struck gold again in the director’s chair with another excellent cast of top notch actors. Hustle is a crime drama comedy loosely based on the Federal Bureau of Investigations(FBI) ABSCAM operation. ABSCAM was a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sting operation run from the Bureau’s Hauppauge, Long Island, office in the late 1970s and early ’80s. The FBI, aided by a convicted con-man, videotaped politicians as they were offered bribes by a fictional Middle Eastern sheik in return for various political favors.The investigation ultimately led to the conviction of a United States Senator, six members of the United States House of Representatives, one member of the New Jersey State Senate, members of the Philadelphia City Council, the Mayor of Camden, New Jersey, and an inspector for the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. Christian Bale plays Irving Rosenfeld. Irving is obsessed with “making a buck.” He gets into the Conman game early as a kid and enters adulthood busting windows of businesses and then offering window repair. Bale loves to get deep inside his characters. So much in this film that he puts on at least 30 pounds of weight and cuts his hair into a balding comb over. Amy Adams plays Sydney Prosser. Sydney is a good looking woman looking to come up in the world. Irving and Sydney meet at a party and become inseparable. Even though Irving is a married man who doesn’t want to leave his crazy wife (Jennifer Lawrence who shines in this role ) for fear of never seeing the adopted son whom he loves. Sydney goes on Irving’s ride so to speak, enhancing Irving’s cons. The ride is good until FBI Agent Richie Di Maso (Bradley Cooper) catches Irving and Sydney in a loan scam, but offers to release them if Irving can line up additional arrests. The two con artists are forced to set up a sting on corrupt politicians and the mayor of Camden, New Jersey (Jeremy Renner)by agent Di Maso. They bribe the mayor of Camden (Renner), local politicians and a Senator played by one of my favorite character actors Anthony Zerbe (The Omega Man 1971) into believing a rich Sheikh would like to invest in casinos in Atlantic City, NJ (Atlantic City, NJ is a major Casino hub on the East Coast of the United States today). As the con grows the Mafia becomes involved as a necessary part of business. Carmine (Renner) brings the Sheikh to a casino party. Irving is surprised to see that the violent Mobster leader Victor Tellegio (Robert De Niro), second-in-command to the infamous Meyer Lansky, is present. One of the most outrageous scenes in the movie unfolds when Irving sees Tellegio at the party. Irving wants no part of meeting with Tellegio. He stays standing on the other side of the room with Carmine, Sydney and the Sheikh. Irving’s wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence), who is already upset that Irving has brought his mistress asks, “Why are afraid of those guys?” (The MOB!) ”They don’t look scary to me.” And struts over to the meanest guys in the room and strikes conversation. She later starts an affair with one of the mobsters and almost gets Irving killed.. Wanting no part of the Mob Irving hatches a con where he hides millions in bribe money from the FBI and says an anonymous source will return the money in exchange for immunity for Irving and Sydney; and to keep them away from the mob. Agent Di Maso’s superiors accept the offer which dashes all Di Maso’s plans to become a famous FBI agent. In the end the mob lets Irving live out his life. Irving and Sydney open a legitimate Art business together and Rosalyn and Irving, divorced, share custody of their son.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org, Trailer courtesy of youtube.com