Last Night (2010)

56.

★★

Directed by: Massy Tadjedin
Written by: Massy Tadjedin
Starring: Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington, Guillaume Canet and Eva Mendes

Massy Tadjedin’s Last Night has a plot that is far too simple for the complex personalities and experiences that it tries to explore. The temptation to cheat, the suspicions that distance and alienate couples, and the thoughts and feelings of the extra-marital lovers have been recycled in countless films – and yet, Last Night fails to offer us anything new or compelling in this field of romance.

When a young married couple spend a night apart, their desire to cheat on each other are pushed to their limits.

While I would elaborate further on the plot, there really isn’t much more to say. The performances are about as good as they’ll ever get for a script that is so threadbare and cliche in its approach to conflicting desires, and as far as characters go, they’re too boring to experiment with.

At times, Last Night feels as though it is stumbling on something significant or interesting to say about the different shades of love that people can experience at different stages in their life. But as the film refuses to explore these concepts through the more creative elements of drama other than dialogue, it ends up feeling bogged down by words and silent looks that are as effective as they are loud.

On the fringes of potential, but never making the most of its great cast, Last Night is a night wasted.

Not impressed.

Morning Glory (2010)

55.

★★★★

Directed by: Roger Michell
Written by: Aline Brosh McKenna
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton

While the off-air comedy of television studios has already been captured and successfully bandied about by the outrageously funny series 30 Rock, Morning Glorytakes a similar premise and moves it into the sunnier and more light-hearted conventions of comedy flicks with uncompromisingly smart twists and surprisingly likable characters.

Looking the part

Despite her inexhaustible energy and positivity, Becky Fuller (McAdams) is fired from her job as the producer of daytime TV show, “Good Morning New Jersey.” As she takes the first producing job that comes her way, Becky is faced with the task of reinventing “Daybreak” – a morning show that has crumbling ratings and seemingly hopeless anchors. Too ambitious and lively to give up easily, Becky puts her faith in old news anchor, Mike Pomeroy (Ford), whose passion for hard-hitting news cements his superiority complex over the entire show and Becky herself.

With Rachel McAdams’ energetic performance and Harrison Ford’s well-fitted role as a surly journalist, Morning Glory lifts potentially annoying characters off the page and provides them with likable qualities that could not have been detailed in the script. Couple this with the surprising and charming twists and turns that ARE in the script, and you get a film that is enjoyable, moving and even a little bit compelling.

While the film does have its odd scenes that feel stitched on to the bigger picture of the plot, these can be easily overlooked as the film’s concluding feel-good mood sits perfectly with the film’s intended audience, genre, character arcs and plot structure.

World’s Greatest Dad (2009)

54.

★★★

Directed by: Bobcat Goldthwait
Written by: Bobcat Goldthwait
Starring: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara and Morgan Murphy

A son only a father would... love?

World’s Greatest Dad is not what you might expect from a comedy featuring Robin Williams (forget Mrs. Doubtfire). With a central concept that dares to take comedy to the extremes of black humor, World’s Greatest Dad sets up a plot that is wickedly hilarious and clever, only to deliver an easy ending.

Lance (Williams) is a failed novelist. Well, failing might be a better description. With so many rejection letters and too many working drafts waiting for the light of publication, Lance is thinking of giving up on the writing. But when his unbelievably crass and dumb son, Kyle (Sabara) unexpectedly dies whilst asphyxiating himself mid-masturbation, a writing opportunity comes to Lance in the form of a fake suicide note that could put Kyle to rest with dignity.

While the idea behind World’s Greatest Dad sets up a deliciously dark comedy, it stretches its original idea for far too long, building our expectations for an unexpected twist at the end of the film. Instead, we are served something too straightforward, and while this may have been the point, it isn’t entirely effective. It isn’t the ending itself that is the problem, it’s the execution and the quick wrap-up of the resolution that leaves us wanting more than we got.

The Kid with a Bike (2011)

53.

★★★★★

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Written by: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Starring: Thomas Doret, Cécile De France and Jérémie Renier

It is hard to expect anything less than a five star movie from the Dardenne brothers. Across their collection of works, the Dardennes have shown a keen knowledge of how human conflict and character motivations can tell a story that is simple yet deeply affecting and significant.

Bright new talent

Their latest The Kid with a Bike follows the journey of an eleven year old boy, Cyril (Thomas Doret), who goes to great lengths to be with his father – a man who feels he is financially and emotionally incapable of raising the child. Spending his weekends under the foster care of a local hairdresser called Samantha, Cyril begins to discover life away from the care center where his father left him. The change of scenery, however, isn’t enough to settle Cyril’s unstable behavior, and his yearning desire to be with his father.

While the plot may not excite those who are unfamiliar with the Dardennes, the magnetic force of young Thomas Doret’s performance is enough to keep audiences hooked within the first twenty minutes of the film. Fighting off his counselors to find out where his father is, Cyril’s urgency, desperation and sheer tenacity of young actor Thomas Doret is engrossing. As The Kid with a Bike progresses, and more of Cyril’s circumstances are revealed, the talent and touch of the Dardenne brothers become increasingly apparent. Subtle, effective and deeply moving, The Kid with a Bike is a classic Dardenne brothers’ film worth catching.

Tulpan (2008)

52.

★★★★

Directed by: Sergei Dvortsevoy
Written by: Sergei Dvortsevoy, Gennadi Ostrovsky
Starring: Tolepbergen Baisakalov, Samal Yeslyamova and Ondas Besikbasov

When Asa finishes up his service with the Russian military, he decides to follow his dreams of owning his own ranch – complete with camels, a flock of sheep and a yurt to live in. But if you take a look at the landscape in which he wants to set up his new home, you’d begin to wonder why. The steppes of Kazakhstan are dusty, dry, desolate and unforgiving to its inhabitants. The men who choose to live and work in such conditions are only able to do so with the help of their… wife. And this is where Asa has a problem.

The first feature debut by Sergei Dvortsevoy, Tulpan, is an absolute delight. Set in a world that is so unfamiliar and refreshingly new to our eyes, Tulpan, navigates its story with strong visual direction and ethnographic knowledge that most audiences would have no prior access to. With a protagonist who shows tenderness, ambition and the courage to hold onto big dreams, Tulpan, catches unexpected laughs and finds beauty in a land that looks like a place of exile.

From new angles

Love, In Between (2010)

51.

★★★

Directed by: Jeong Yun-Su
Written by: Yun-su Jeon, Yong-jun Park
Starring: Jun-ho Jeong, Yi-yeong Shim and Jae-Won Choi

While Hollywood has always thrived on the subject of extramarital affairs, there was a time when the topic of infidelity and divorce didn’t get much screen time in South Korea – save for melodramatic soapies that always treated the subject with the same angle and resolution. Boy, have times changed.

The unashamedly raunchy Love, In Between is a South Korean film that goes to show conventional views of extramarital affairs have changed, along with how much leg or boob we can display on the big screen. Aside from all the sex scenes (which are at times gratuitous and unconvincing), Love, In Between‘s plot takes an interesting and unexpected direction in its characters’ motivations and action. Can a woman develop a strong friendship with the lover of her husband? Can desire fall under multiple categories?

All tangled up

Despite its initial intrigue and unconventional representation of extramarital affairs in South Korean culture, much of the slow-burning drama is lost in a rushed climax that is far too over the top and dramatic to successfully satisfy the accumulating suspense. When all is revealed,Love, In Betweentakes the easy way out.

Nevertheless, Love, In Between is no doubt a bold move in modern Korean cinema. While overt sexuality and divorce had been previously shied away from or treated with black and white perspectives, Love, In Between goes to show that Korean audiences too enjoy peeping into sex lives, adopt more liberal stances toward sexual relationships and want to see them questioned and represented onscreen.

 

Dogtooth (2009)

50.

★★★★

Directed by: Giorgos Lanthimos
Written by: Giorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou
Starring: Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley and Aggeliki Papoulia

Here’s a social experiment. Raise three children in an isolated home, educate them with lies about the outside world, control their every move and even change up their vocabulary so that “pussy” means big light, “zombie” means yellow flower and … well, we’ll make it up as we go.

Party time!

The disturbingly hilarious and deeply thought-provoking Dogtooth is a psychological drama from Greece that will make you rethink home-schooling. Three siblings, indoctrinated by their own parents, begin to mentally unwind when they start to get small, but dangerous, glimpses of what the outside world might be like. Powered by performances that thrive on the bizarre and unhinged, Dogtooth finds moments of raw hilarity and child-like fascination in the simple differences between our world and the world of the three young adults.

While the plot of the film moves rather slowly, it is in the very atmosphere and dramatic interaction between the characters that the film finds its power. Wickedly engrossing and clever in its analysis of human nature, Dogtooth is most certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey (2011)

49.

★★★★

Directed by: Constance Marks
Written by: Philip Shane, Justin Weinstein
Starring: Kevin Clash, Whoopi Goldberg and Frank Oz

The man behind the puppet

Sesame Street is the stuff of childhood. Filled with characters that are all distinctive and unique in their own way, the children’s television show Sesame Street sought to entertain and educate its audience through the energy and humor of colorful puppets. But what we’re actually seeing on the screen are the imagination and passions of the people controlling the puppets off-screen. Puppeteers like Kevin Clash – who breathed life into the loveable red monster, Elmo – for example.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey is a documentary that is as warm and fuzzy as the puppet Elmo himself. Following the life of Kevin Clash and his early fascination with Jim Henson’s work in creating The Muppets and other puppet-driven films and shows, Being Elmo pieces together intimate interviews of Kevin and the people he touched through his work. As the documentary beckons us into the world of puppet-making and acting, it manages to broaden its subject matter to the very art of puppeteering and the level of detail and effort that is placed into creating such old-school entertainment.

With so much heart, light humor and inspiration, Being Elmo demonstrates why audiences of all ages are drawn to Elmo and the journey of his creator, whose deep appreciation for the art all comes back to love and wanting to share love with the world.

Centurion (2010)

48.

★★★

Directed by: Neil Marshall
Written by: Neil Marshall
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West and Olga Kurylenko

There seems to be a running theme in all of Neil Marshall’s films. Whether it be from creepy cave creatures or cannibals, Marshall’s thrillers always seem to involve characters running for their lives. In Centurion, the running continues as brave Roman soldier, Quintus Dias (Fassbender) is handed the responsibility of getting the survivors of Rome’s strongest legion back home after being brutally outnumbered in a Pict infested forest.

Action shot!

While the rich natural landscapes of Northern Britain, splashed with the blood and gore of helpless Roman soldiers and savage-like Picts keep our eyes entertained, there isn’t much in Centurion to keep our brains excited. Despite the gritty and fast-paced action, Centurion chases its character through a plot that is rather uneventful and unexciting as the motivations of the characters and their journey through the film are simply not compelling enough.

But in comparison to Neil Marshall’s earlier films, Centurion is a great improvement (no offence). The performances are captivating, despite the lack of creativity applied to the film’s characters, and the action is well directed and executed. Hopefully, we’ll run into an even better Neil Marshall film in the future.

All Good Things (2010)

47.

★★★

Directed by: Andrew Jarecki
Written by: Marcus Hinchey, Marc Smerling
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst and Frank Langella

They say “all good things come to an end.” Andrew Jarecki’s All Good Things comes to a rather disappointing one. While Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst deliver electrifying performances in this dark and disturbing thriller, the film’s recreation of true events loses its compelling quality as the initial nail-biting suspense in the first two acts circles into a rushed mess at the film’s end.

The silent game.

David (Gosling) works in the family real estate business. It’s not something he’d wanted to do, but after marrying Katie (Dunst), his father convinces him that the wealth and security of the job is what she desires and deserves. Owning profitable property on New York’s 42nd Street, David certainly reaps the benefits in material ways, but when it comes to giving Katie her unborn child, David won’t allow it. As the friction between this couple grows increasingly violent and Katie finds her life controlled by David and his family’s power, it’s only a matter of time before Katie discovers the true colors of her husband.

All Good Things presents all the right material for a potentially riveting thriller (the voice over of the protagonist being tried in court included). The story develops with an intensely engaging sense of drama and surprise, whilst simultaneously stringing us along with Gosling’s controlled and powerful portrayal of David. But once the film begins to get interesting, the conventional tricks of the trade begin to rear their ugly head, forcing the film to lose its earlier tension. Instead of allowing us to read the characters through dialogue and dramatically involved moments, the voice over interrupts, a growing sense of repetition is felt, and the ending quickly patches up our understanding of the film with overlay text and poorly paced scenes that stick ambiguity down our throats, rather than giving us a chance to figure it out ourselves. Despite ‘all the good things’ in this film, it’s sad to say we’re left a little disappointed.