Nicole Holfcener's 'Please Give' was the best movie I saw last year, so I've been chasing up her back catalogue to some extent; my first LoveFim rental was 'Lovely and Amazing', not realising I'd seen it back in the day at the now sadly defunct Kino arthouse cinema, Cork.
And of course there's the wonderful Catherine Keener; last year it clicked, in a 'putting a name to the face' way - "Ah, that's the actress who's in all the good American indies.."
'Friends with Money' follows the lives and loves of four female friends. Performances from the all-star girl cast are strong all-round, particularly Jennifer Aniston's, whose straitened circumstances put her slightly at odds with the other three who provide the film with its title.
It's a light, enjoyable piece, funny in places, articulately not drawing any conclusions.
It deserves more than the 6.0 it gets on IMDB.
Monday 30 May 2011
Monday 23 May 2011
Synecdoche, New York (US, 2008)
Philip Seymour Hoffman as the put-upon theatre director in the kind of intense rôle that he's suited to. As with Kaufman's 'Adaptation' (2002), the creative process and actuality are cleverly intertwined; whereas the earlier film is relatively self-contained, 'Synechdoche' becomes a sprawling rumination on love, life and death with the proverbial cast of thousands.
Maybe a bit too clever and sprawling...
There are a number of engagingly bizzare visual gags - American troops in Berlin; the sound of remote gunfire on the New York set; the constantly smouldering flames in the interior of a house; the 'chance' meeting of Caden (Hoffman) and his psychologist on a plane bound for Germany. Strong supporting performance also from Samantha Morton.
Interesting article by Robert Williamson outlining how American indies have retained their original spirit while gradually attracting bigger budgets and stars.
Maybe a bit too clever and sprawling...
There are a number of engagingly bizzare visual gags - American troops in Berlin; the sound of remote gunfire on the New York set; the constantly smouldering flames in the interior of a house; the 'chance' meeting of Caden (Hoffman) and his psychologist on a plane bound for Germany. Strong supporting performance also from Samantha Morton.
Interesting article by Robert Williamson outlining how American indies have retained their original spirit while gradually attracting bigger budgets and stars.
Friday 13 May 2011
La Cérémonie (FR, 1995)
I'll have to admit to a long-standing partiality to French cinema in general, and that Claude Chabrol is my favourite director of all time. He made some turkeys in his day too (Les Innocents aux Mains Sales, La Décade Prodigieuse, Dr. M), but this is a good show.
Starring Sandrine Bonnaire as the blank, illiterate housemaid in the employ of a well-to-do family, initially all is well, but tensions gradually emerge.
We're in familiar Chabrol territory here (not that that's a bad thing); the film is not without humour though, provided mostly by Isabelle Huppert's feisty, sluttish postmistress. The ending too, if somewhat casually clinical, is strangely amusing.
Nerds may notice some brief clips of 'Les Noces Rouges'(1973, also by Chabrol) on the TV in one scene.
If anyone is interested/reading this, my favourite Chabrol movies (in no particular order) are:
La Rupture (1975)
Les Bonnes Femmes (1960)
Une Partie de Plaisir (1975)
Les Biches (1968)
Sometimes, the order in which you see/hear things impacts which you like/remember best.
Starring Sandrine Bonnaire as the blank, illiterate housemaid in the employ of a well-to-do family, initially all is well, but tensions gradually emerge.
We're in familiar Chabrol territory here (not that that's a bad thing); the film is not without humour though, provided mostly by Isabelle Huppert's feisty, sluttish postmistress. The ending too, if somewhat casually clinical, is strangely amusing.
Nerds may notice some brief clips of 'Les Noces Rouges'(1973, also by Chabrol) on the TV in one scene.
If anyone is interested/reading this, my favourite Chabrol movies (in no particular order) are:
La Rupture (1975)
Les Bonnes Femmes (1960)
Une Partie de Plaisir (1975)
Les Biches (1968)
Sometimes, the order in which you see/hear things impacts which you like/remember best.
Wednesday 11 May 2011
The Maid/La Nana (Chile/Mexico, 2009)
Winningly naturalistic, occasionally sad 'slice of life' centered around the household of the 40-something maid who becomes temporarily incapacitated through exhaustion. Very well observed, with pristine, clear-sighted photography.
Tuesday 10 May 2011
True Grit (US, 2010)
The good people at Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast have put on a one-week re-run of this western remade. All in all, another good show from the Coen Brothers, with the trademark black humour and some great photography. The only nag being the quick, heavily-accented dialogue which can be tricky to follow in places; thus could do with seeing it again. I've not seen the original, but this version is probably the second best film I've seen this year.
Definitely recommended.
QFT is the best cinema in all of Ireland IMHO, and one of the main reasons I wanted to move to this fine city.
Definitely recommended.
QFT is the best cinema in all of Ireland IMHO, and one of the main reasons I wanted to move to this fine city.
Friday 6 May 2011
Archipelago (UK, 2010)
Could just tell from the first moment that this wasn't up to much. Pointless, overly-long, longueur-ridden, more like a TV movie - and a missable one at that. Unsympathetic characters whose faux angsty tantrums are triggered by 2 minor food-related incidents, and let's not forget the mumbling philosophising thrown in for good measure. Probably thinks itself very Antonioni-esque, and it's worth taking a look at some of the sycophantic user reviews on IMDB which attempt to dress up this garbage with intellectual hogwash.
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