Waitress (2007)

Waitress

Directed by Adrienne Shelly

Starring: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Adrienne Shelly, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith, Eddie Jemison, Lew Temple

Grade: D -

If only life was as easy as pie. This statement, the tagline for Waitress, a comedy about the life of Jenna, a pregnant and thoroughly miserable waitress in America's deep South, may at first appear apt, but fatefully relinquishes all importance in the hours that follow.

All of the buzz about this film has been regarding Adrienne Shelly, the diector, writer and supporting player of the film, who was tragically shot dead just months ago. The nature of her character in the film, the ditzy but very endearing waitress Dawn, will certainly contribute to the overall sadness of the event, and to Shelly's credit, she plays the character well. Of the three tasks she undertakes however, (acting, directing, and writing) her success is sadly confined to her comic turn.

It's clear from the outset that Shelly intends to use the naivety and idiocy of her characters to get laughs, the beginning sequence seeing the three waitresses huddled around Jenna's pregnancy test, speculating about the outcome and possible re-percussions in a giddily frantic childish nature. It immediately imprints a fluffy tone to the film, and a galloping comic pace that's initially entertaining. Once Jenna is revealed pregnant she is devastated, and immediately resents the baby's presence, baking a 'Bad Baby Pie' to reflect her negative mood. Strangely though, Jenna is given few actual concerns about the pregnancy, and I'm at a loss to remember a time when she details why a baby would be so bad. The film gives her only one legitimate concern in her aggressive and possessive husband Earl, who is never quite convincing enough.

The continual metaphor of the pie in reflecting Jenna's mentality is itself very troubling. A pie is defined by it's filling, but Waitress wanders through this weak and silly metaphor as if it were as intelligent as, say, Sideways' use of wine. It does little but add to the absurdity that filters through Waitress, from its cast of one-dimensional charicatures, who seem to have no motivation for any actions they undertake, to Jenna's relationship with Doctor Pomatter (Nathan Fillion), which is predictable and altogether perplexing. The majority of Waitress and its characters feel positioned and controlled to act like impulsive puppets. Indeed, at times it feels like the story is being made up as it goes along. There's very little opportunity for consistency and recognition, and as a result Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion appear unaware of what on earth Jenna and Pomatter are supposed to be thinking. I'll be damned if anyone else knows.

Fittingly, the end of Waitress is as throwaway as the rest of it, for what few evident concerns Jenna did have about the baby are single-handedly eradicated by the child's birth instead of being addressed. Jenna's mentality completely switches. She's a completely different person afterwards, correlating with the continual spiralling feel of the film -- a forced and contrived exercise if ever there was one. The film says nothing about anything, or anyone in it, aside from that they're the hollow product of some godawful ventriloquist act. If I never see another pie again it'll be too soon.

R.I.P Ernst Ingmar Bergman [1918-2007]

#99 Sideways (2004)

Directed by Alexander Payne

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh

I first saw Sideways before I began to like, or at least appreciate wine. Seminally though, this story of two friends who travel through the Californian wine country on a bachelor week, uses the drink as a metaphor for human depth and body. Middle-aged buds Jack and Miles are so uniformally different in refinement and nature, but are never judged in terms of quality. After all, its all in the name of taste. You can be in the mood for a heavy cabernet sauvignon, but sometimes a light white number does just the trick.

Although I haven't quite entered middle-age yet (Haha, thankfully a while to go yet) the desperation and transparency of the two men -- and in many ways, of the two women -- mirror the insecurities of people stuck in their youth, afraid of commitment, and of people with the frantic need to settle down. It's also a madcap and at times stupid comedy, but the soulful essence of the people enduring the tale are enough to allow you to submit to the slightly depressing aura that Sideways continually seems to emananate.

#100 Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Directed by Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise

Starring: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White

Beauty and the Beast is a simple story with a moral that you shouldn't judge people based on appearance. An admirable and oft-used message within Disney films. Although the film shies away from allowing Belle to marry the beast in his cursed animal form (presumably and understandably for fear of being too radical) this is forgivable in the sense that the heroine is rewarded for falling in love with someone physically intimidating and undesirable. Beauty can also be construed as a social commentary on the treatment of outsiders in society, coming shortly after the exploratory views of Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands.

The magical thing about classic Disney is in the music. Disney songs don't feel included for the mere sake of it. They further the narrative, and in some ways develop the characters involved. Whether it's the manic yet charming 'Be Our Guest', which instantly alters the pre-conception of the castle as a dark and heavy environment, or the sweet and poignant title track, detailing the implications of judging somebody at face value; Beauty and the Beast is a funny and sweepingly grand fairy tale with gorgeous intentions.

My Own 100

When I look back on the list of Top Fifty films I made about three years ago, I'm a little shocked. At that time I had both Pay It Forward and Erin Brockovich in my Top Ten, which now do not reach my all-time 100. It makes me contemplate how many films I've seen in the last three years and how enlightened I feel now. I still like those two films by the way :-P no matter what anyone says! Anyway, the point is, a couple of weeks ago I decided to create my personal canon. The one hundred films I believe are the greatest I have feasted my eyes upon. I'm gonna count them down and write a lil somethin about each one. So here goes.

Enjoy.

Am I the Only Person That Likes This?

Please. Enlighten me.

Big Brother 8: One Week In

So a week ago today eleven girls went into the Big Brother 8 house, making it the first all-female Big Brother. However, on Friday their prayers for a man were answered as one bloke, former boyband singer Zach, entered to frenetic excitement. Here is a quick summary of every housemate, and what they have done so far:

Amanda - 18 Year Old student. One half of the first twins to be in Big Brother UK. Entered dressed as a 'beach babe' complete with lollipop. Excessive screaming and shrieking ensued but has since died down. Currently boring but thankfully no longer annoying.

Carole - 53 Year Old Youth worker and political activist. Entered to masses of cheers. Very no-nonsense and ballsy woman who'll say what she think. Excellent. So far has not disappointed.

Chanelle - 19 Year Old bank worker and student. Wants to be Victoria Beckham and I'm sure she isn't the only one. Also wouldn't mind being a WAG. So why isn't she detestable? Hmm.. maybe because she put Emily well and truly in her place yesterday.

Charley - 21 Year Old socialite. That's all we need to know thankyou very much. "I'm well the hottest"

Emily - 19 Year Old Tory waitress. Clearly thinks she's something special. She's also bossy and very selfish. Loved her saying Lesley was the 'least considerate' housemate.

Laura - 23 Year Old nanny. My initial favourite but seems to have been dragged down by the bitching and domestic catfights of the first week. I still think she's genuine though.

Lesley - 60 Year Old retired businesswoman. Very strange, and not at all likeable, but she stirs things up everywhere she goes. Her "Piggy at the table" jibe at Emily has to be the most hilarious moment of the series so far.

Nicky - 27 Year Old Accounts Executive. Was very boring up until yesterday's meeting. Seems like a practical woman, and one that gets on with most people. She's missing the fun factor though.

Sam - Other half of the twins. Meh.

Shabnam - 22 Year Old temp. Too confident. "I'm entertainment". And very annoying. Shouted at Tracey in the task because she thought herself more attractive.

Tracey - 36 Year Old cleaner. Completely intolerant to all the young wannabes but who can blame her? At least she has her feet on the ground. Her "Just don't talk to me" comment to Shabnam is completely understandable.

Ziggy - 26 Year Old broker and former boyband singer. He alone is representative of why I am attracted to men rather than women. Not that he's majorly attractive, but that he's so direct and honest which completely contrasts with most of the women.

28 Weeks Later (2007)

28 Weeks Later
Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Starring: Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton
Grade: C+

While Danny Boyle had his hands full last year making the efervescent spiritual Sunshine, he was also an executive producer to the sequel of his 2002 horror flick, 28 Days Later, handily titled, 28 Weeks Later. While Days left us wanting more -- and certainly with room for more -- the virus at a relatively recent point of outbreak, this installment of the franchise carries the story from a much more developed point, the virus having been all but eradicated and Brits stranded overseas being returned to a zone in London deemed free of infection. These include the daughters of Don (Carlyle), who we see survive an onslaught of 'rage' victims in the opening sequence of the film.

The decision not to use the same characters as in the original may have been out of the control of many involved but nevertheless does seem strange, given that we associate every element of the virus plot with Harris, Murphy and Burns, the original battling survivors (depending on which ending you've seen, of course). Still, Fresdanillo and co. do a generally successful job in making the central characters in the film identifiable and empathetic, as do Muggleton and Poots, who are believable, if not up to the standards of the original trio. It is however, even creepier than the first, maintaining the sense of desperation within the characters, as well as their raw and intense thirst for survival so evident in Days, making for some incredibly tense sequences. However, the film seems so eager to shock that when the jump-enducing moments arrive they feel staged and eventually repetitive, descending Weeks into a kind of exercise in cheap-thrill armchair-clutching discomfort that feels all too imposed by Fresdanillo.

Indeed, the film often feels incoherent, taking what feels like contrived recesses from the plot to launch its indulgent airstrike of "Will they won't they?" frenzied editing before giving us sweeping political commentary on the US military and majestic towering overhead views of London. It almost feels like a half-hearted effort to veer from a primarily thrill-seeking picture, which if done well there is absoloutely nothing wrong with, but as it happens the commentary of Weeks ends up awkward and truthfully a little insincere. While Days gave us an insight into humanity, Weeks barely breaches the doldrums, but crucially it is always entertaining and admittedly often effective.

Featured Performance: Molly Ringwald In Pretty In Pink

In all my years of watching films, I have rarely registered with and admired a character as much as Andie Walsh. She is admittedly a character with very few flaws (if indeed any), and numerous strong traits that distinguish her from the rest of the film's major players. Seemingly carrying the weight of the world on her brawny shoulders -- trying not to hurt her unhealthily obsessive best friend, battling the critics of her non-conformist ideology, dealing with her mothers abandonment of herself and her father, and struggling with that familiar obstacle of love -- Andie is the essence of teenage angst.

Molly Ringwald, best known for her role in The Breakfast Club, a fantastic and similarly themed portrait of prejudice and assumption that shed light on the social pressures of the adolescent, is freshest here, her graceful, dignified, and thoroughly natural demeanor aptly tuned to Andie's cracks and layers. The honesty of Andie, and her acknowledgment of having to confront problems and issues wherever they may arise helps to build this statuesque individualist with painful delicacies and youthful identity.

It's wholly natural to root for the outsider in life's common 'battles', on whatever scale, but Ringwald's Andie is never really an outsider. She may dress differently and think differently, but her liberated attitude towards society in general and the constraints it puts upon people is itself representative of one of the most relevant questions within the zone of adolescence. Ringwald's monument of Andie is seamless, her patient measured dignity an iconic gesture to perhaps the most enlightened, if not the most enviable era in which to grow up.

The Death of Feminity

So the Serbian lesbian and her band of stone cold foxes (literally) reigned supreme at the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki on Saturday. The contest just gets stranger and stranger every year. Many people attribute the Serbian win to Eastern block voting which kind of holds water (by the way my prediction of five of the top ten ending in "ia" fell just short, although Moldova were also in the top ten which strengthens the point I was trying to make) but to be honest, Serbia got a lot of points off Western European countries as well. I always say the winner of Eurovision is the most popular song, and I still think it this year. I just have no idea where people are coming from. =)

Here are my ratings for the songs (out of twelve):

Bosnia & Herzegovina - 8
Spain - 6
Belarus - 9

Ireland - 5
Finland - 7
FYR Macedonia - 7
Slovenia - 8
Hungary - 10
Lithuania - 7
Greece - 9
Georgia - 8
Sweden - 12
France - 8
Latvia - 7
Russia - 6
Germany - 8
Serbia - 7
Ukraine - 8
United Kingdom - 8
Romania - 5
Bulgaria - 7

Turkey - 6
Armenia - 7
Moldova - 7

Finn Fun

For perhaps the first time in Eurovision history my patriotism has been called into question. Earlier this week I slapped £10 on Sweden's entry "The Worrying Kind" to win, partly because I love it, and partly because I can't believe that there's a song that's going to beat it (duh). My heart will of course be with the United Kingdom's absurd hyper-gay anthem, "Flying the Flag For You", but for tonight, I'm an honourary semi-Swede.

So onto the competition. Sweden is my big tip, but a lot of people are raving about Serbia's entry, which resembles some band of pagaent rejects, and since there are loads of states across that way in the competition this year, they could get a leg up. The usual political voting should be rabid as ever, but I'm hoping that the political distance of the UK from most of Europe has grown a little less apparent, otherwise we could be in big trouble again.

Most of the semi-final qualifiers were apparentely very questionable, and a lot of them were from baltic states. Turkey's entry comes from a guy with a big European fanbase. Having said that, in recent memory that isn't always a great sign (Anna Vissi, T.A.T.U). But the favourite this year is the Ukraine, who are led by a drag queen (like that's never happened before.. viva la divaaa). Well it has been nine years.

My Tip - Sweden (Alt: Turkey)

Wild Guess - Five of the top ten end in "ia"

Big Hope - The drag queen keeps it in his pants

Happy eurovision parties everyone!!!

The Verdict On Volta [Part One]

So the jury is still out on Bjork's much-anticipated new album Volta. Although reviews are favourable many say this album is a disappointment. Having bought it on Wednesday and had a couple of days to digest most of the songs, here's part one of my commentary:

Volta opens with the tribal marching of "Earth Intruders", a light-hearted yet stamping anthem that has the fitting effect of a musical starters gun, sending us into the remainder of the album like an army of troops, unbeknownst to the chaos that lies ahead. The song is remeniscent of Human Behaviour in its bold and wacky audacity, contrasting to the second song "Wanderlust", which seems to draw more on her Homogenic album than anything else. The song has a sense of reach and longing, but on a grand rather than personal scale. Kind of like a political pleading, which would co-incide with the loosely composed theme of the album.

The best song on the album is "The Dull Flame of Desire", which features the vocal talents of both Bjork and Antony, from 'Antony and the Johnsons'. The lyrics are from a poem, featured in Andrei Tarkovsky's film 'Stalker' (which I've yet to see), and they resonate so beautifully throughout the song, serving as an emotionally wrought ode to a lost love. The music has a sense of frontier and battlement that creates a doomed undertone to the song, marking it with a distant dullness that reflects the lyrical resignment. Gorgeously composed.

The transition between this song and the next, "Innocence" is abrupt and uncontrolling, perhaps mirroring the powerlessness and disorientation of war. The sound of "Innocence" is possibly the most appealing and instilling of Volta's many melodies. You can feel the sharpness of its beat, the punch of Bjork's tone. It's the song in the pack that you could most easily and happily dance to -- not without orchestral intricacy, but with a throwaway anecdotal quality (like "There's More to Life Than This") that's fun and free-spirited.

I must admit I'm not completely sure what Bjork is trying to do with "I See Who You Are", the fifth track on the album. It has a light rhythm and what sounds like a brass accompaniment in places. The lyrics include "Lets celebrate this flesh on our bones". In any case, the song feels out of place and it isn't magnetic enough. Maybe I just didn't get it.

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1. Earth Intruders 8/10
2. Wanderlust 7.5/10
3. The Dull Flame of Desire 9.5/10
4. Innocence 9/10
5. I See Who You Are 6/10

The End of Teenage Life is Nigh

More Freaky Hills

The Hills Have Eyes 2

Directed by Martin Weisz

Starring: Jessica Stroup, Michael McMillan, Jacob Vargas

Grade: C-

I was not without praise for Alexandre Aja's remake of brutal 1977 horror 'The Hills Have Eyes'. Wes Craven, who directed the original, pens this sequel, which sees a group of National Guard trainees venture into sector 13 after the disappearance of a troop based there. The first scene of The Hills Have Eyes II is vile. A woman gives birth to a mutant baby, a mutant yanking the baby out by its head, the umbilical cord in full view, a distasteful and sickening sight. Craven may well be playing up to his cult status here with this hard-hitting bloodthirsty statement, but its a message of things to come.

Last year's remake has certainly bloomed more positively in my mind as time has gone on. I think, initially, for me, it was hard to distinguish between how much of what the film achieves is down to its explicit shock tactics and how much is created aesthetically. Speaking in terms of narrative, the fact that both 1977 and 2006 versions of the story centre around a family certainly intensifies our feelings towards the protagonists, which is absoloutely key in terms of horror. Perhaps that's why this sequel feels more of an exercise than it does a battle. The group are loosely bound by a comradeship that's fairly thin, none of the characters on show displaying any type of identifiable pain or strength -- the only real attempt at creating empathy involving a video of one of the women's son on her mobile phone. But Hills II feels less about maternal and communal instinct than it does about internal affairs, and the battle between institutions and outsiders -- a bold yet puzzling concept, given Aja's efforts to focus on family and distance the mutants' humanity evident in Craven's original.

Indeed, it seems that Craven's updated story veers from Aja's course, in some ways re-discovering more closely the nature of the mutants, and the strength they pose as a united force. Again, there's a 'good mutant' that aids the group in their quest to escape. Yet in other ways dismissing their actions as evil and leisurely rather than harsh and practical, which is a tad contradictory. In any case, these latest Hills are just as gory, and just as claustrophobic. It's just a shame that the film doesn't have as clear a direction as last year's, and isn't anywhere near as polished, leaving you with little to take from the experience. Well, maybe a slight shudder at the thought of a third installment.

First 2007 Oscar Predictions [Major Categories]

Picture

American Gangster
Atonement
Lust, Caution
My Blueberry Nights
There Will Be Blood

Director

Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Todd Haynes - I'm Not There
Ang Lee - Lust, Caution
Ridley Scott - American Gangster
Wong Kar Wai - My Blueberry Nights

Actress In a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett - The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose
Norah Jones - My Blueberry Nights
Laura Linney - The Savages

Actor In a Leading Role

Don Cheadle - Talk To Me
Russell Crowe - American Gangster
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Benicio Del Toro - Things We Lost In the Fire
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd

Actress In a Supporting Role

Abbie Cornish - The Golden Age
Romola Garai - Atonement
Natalie Portman - The Other Boleyn Girl/My Blueberry Nights
Susan Sarandon - In the Valley of Elah
Meryl Streep - Rendition

Actor In a Supporting Role

Philip Bosco - The Savages
Bruno Ganz - Youth Without Youth
Clive Owen - The Golden Age
Alan Rickman - Sweeney Todd
Denzel Washington - American Gangster

Euro Fever

Woohoo! With just.......46 days remaining until the final of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, I've decided to get into the spirit of the event. As you might have gathered from my enthusiasm last year this is one of the highlights in my calendar. As much as it may be mocked and disliked, Eurovision is one of those institutional events that, even in it's absurdity, is almost regarded as an obligation throughout Europe, and bizarrely still makes a lot of headlines. It's also very gay, which I like (duh). Lol.

Here is the list of Semi-Final Participants with a link to a preview of each song, and here is the order of songs for the Final, with gaps to fill.

That's all for now but I'll leave you something to think about. A picture of one of the semi-final entries, Switzerland's song "Vampires are Alive", by Dj BoBo. Lol. Yes, I know. Crazy.

The Death of Production Design

More to follow...

Becoming Jane (2007)

Becoming Jane (2007)
Directed by Julian Jarrold
Starring: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Julie Walters, James Cromwell, Dame Maggie Smith
Grade: C+

It seems that the British film industry simply will not leave the genre of the period drama alone. Not content with adapting a handful of Jane Austen's novels (Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Pride and Prejudice) to both television and the big screen, Becoming Jane chronicles the romantic flounderings of Austen herself, and chiefly her relationship with trainee lawyer Tom LeFroy. 'The Devil Wears Prada' star Anne Hathaway is installed as the popular literary romanticist, and is one of few Americans in a cast dominated by Britain's tried and trusted thespians, among them Dame Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, and ascending star James McAvoy, who plays Austen's love interest.

I think it would be considerably more favourable to take the film with a pinch of salt -- as an entertaining distraction rather than a social portrait. Many of the plot devices used are very familiar to those within Austen's own novels, questions of love versus finance, the importance of honour and reputation, the meandering status of the couple(s) in question. Additionally Austen's strong, feminist traits; Her writing, which marks her as less dependent than many of the film's other female characters, her reluctance to marry for money, and her charismatic sharp wit that almost instantaneously draws you in, suggests that her literary heroines are partly autobiographical. But as much as the film follows Jane's personal struggles, the basis of the film is in the shaping of her literature rather than her life. There's very little here that we haven't seen before, so if you're looking for an eye-opening insight into the life of Jane Austen, you certainly won't find it in Becoming Jane.

As a melee of Austen's fictional charm and wit, Becoming Jane may be mildly successful, but the work in question doesn't vary enough for us to see much degree of thought or integration in the narrative, and effectively, there's little more to it than replacing Austen with Lizzie Bennet, or Emma Woodhouse, or Elinor Dashwood. But while Jane doesn't vehemently challenge, or offer up anything new, it's very watchable. It's just never great, and never really sure of itself.

2006: The Overrated and Underrated

As you may have guessed, I've decided to get cracking with my 2006 awards. I haven't seen some films but I likely won't see them until the summer so it's best to finalise these now, while they have at least some relevance.

There are always films by which their critical reaction completely baffles me. It seems that people can jump on a negative bandwagon for many number of reasons, and equally consume the media hype of others. Some of these films maybe I just don't get, but these are the films I feel were rated far too highly, and the ones that really didn't get their deserved glory.

The Overrated

5. Blood Diamond

It's difficult to concede that of all the political and action thrillers of late, this messy second-rate exercise is among the better of them. Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly watchable. But its characters are very 2D, and the filmmakers are dependent on Di Caprio's deserved Oscar-nominated performance to make it seem like there's a little more to it.

4. Flags Of Our Fathers

It's like any Eastwood film is commanding respect nowadays. Flags definitely has a point it's trying to make, but it's all a little too generic and limp. The battles scenes are excellent, but the structure of the film as a whole is quite chaotic, the film unnecessarily flashing backwards and forwards every five minutes. This isn't a good film.

3. Dreamgirls

I so wanted to like this but at times it feels almost amateurishly put together, from the staging (very odd) to the direction (ragged), to the music (uninspiring - bar one song). It contains a couple of good performances and a host of average ones, and doesn't really grab you the way a musical really should.

2. Thank You For Smoking

Aaron Eckhart is very fun, and consequently breathes life into the film, but I can't help but wonder what on earth we're supposed to take from it. The topic itself isn't challenged a great deal, and neither are the other themes (family, trust). An incredibly strange debacle if ever I saw one. Oh, and its supporting players are less than satisfying.

1. Apocalypto

This just pisses me off. If you're going to make an action film, make an action film. Don't try and dress it up as some kind of historical and cultural insight. Mel Gibson's film is almost entirely independent of context, the extent of Mayan culture being reduced to brutality and mythical supernature, and the narrative a simplistic bore.

The Underrated

5. Silent Hill

I think a lot of critics have a dislike for this kind of blatant commercially motivated project. Ironically though, it's artistically expressive - atmospheric, lively, entertaining, well acted. Granted, the plot is less than polished, but for the most part it works, and works well.

4. Poseidon

People really have to ask what they want from a blockbuster. Even the most successful blockbuster of them all, Titanic, has its major flaws. But this kind of genre has historically, and really should be forgiving of cheese, and a certain amount of obviousness. The questions that should be asked of it are: Does it thrill? Is it worth your time? The answers are yes.

3. Deja Vu

A pulsating, thrilling, excellent film that pushes the boundaries of action, science fiction and crime, demanding attention in its two-hour onslaught. Perhaps the reason why this wasn't as well received as it should have been is because of the surrealist nature of one of its plot devices (concerned with time travel), and the neatly-wrapped ending. Nevertheless, it's certainly the most enjoyable cinematic experience I had in 2006.

2. Marie Antoinette

This was never going to be for everyone. When somebody tries something different, they're always going to get their fair share of haters, and Coppola certainly has that. Yet as awkward as it is in places, its themes are constantly being explored, something that was very absent in 2006. Plus it has perhaps the greatest soundtrack ever assembled. Give it a break!

1. The Good Shepherd

The only reasons I can really think of for this film receiving mixed reviews, and very little awards coverage is because of its topic and running time. Let's face it. I doubt many people were jumping up and down when they heard Robert De Niro was going to make a movie about the C.I.A. It's hardly going to guarantee a rousing time. But Shepherd was badly treated. It's a solid, excellently composed film, and I hope that people come to realise this in the future, when they look back on this sorry year.

Abbos Kiarostami's Ten (2002)

Iranian director Abbos Kiarostami, whose only previous film I've seen is the exquisite, beautiful Taste of Cherry (1997), is renowned as an experimental filmmaker. His 2002 film Ten records ten conversations between a woman, and the passengers within her car. The conversations range in intensity, intimacy, and purpose; the woman exchanging speech with her son, two of her friends, an old woman, and a prostitute.

Taking a recent example, Paul Greengrass' United 93 (a film I dismissed a little too quickly, partly because of its genre), re-enacts the events of 9/11 (or at least some of them) to compelling and dramatic effect. Many of the characters in the film take action in the same manner we know them to have done on that day in 2001 -- some even playing themelves. Indeed, much of Greengrass' filmography can be quite comfortably assigned to the 'Docu-Drama' sector; but Kiarostami's Ten is a different commodity altogether, and certainly a more difficult film to classify.

The camera(s) remains in a relatively fixed position within the car, giving an air of intrusion into personal space, an up-close authenticity that is stark and impacting. Much like reality television it turns us into voyeurs, absorbing the information we receive; judging the personalities we encounter. It's very difficult not to get wrapped up in the many issues being lampooned around.

The most intriguing and provocative relationship on offer is between mother and son. This accounts for most of the conversations, and throughout them all there is constant unrest. The first conversation in the film is particularly difficult to watch, as they fight over various issues, the most prominent of which is the divorce between the mother and father, which has left both mother and son bitter about various things. It's in this conversation though, that the film is at its most problematic. The claustrophobic method of filming imposes the issues in question upon you in a relentless, almost torturous fashion. Whether they are essentially real or not, this method suggests an element of reality, and therefore the scene often appears rather wayward; especially when the mother proceeds to quote poetry and refer to metaphors of stagnant ponds. Much of her input in this initial conversation is flowery, and detracts from the naturalism of the episode.

Indeed, the character of the driver is not a likeable figure. Aside from lecturing her son in an irrational and often childish way, she goes on to pick up a prostitute, interrogating her about her job, admit to both her friend and her son that she doesn't want him to live with her, and ramble insensitively to her clearly distraught friend. Recent Iranian cinema has been keen to enlighten on the repressed role of women in the country (notably The Circle, 2001) and the proposed role of women in society is explored here. The driver has clearly adopted a more Western, independent and post-modern mentality towards womanhood, and its with this that she proceeds to challenge her passengers: her son's masogynist views, her friend's dependence on her husband, the prostitute's need to be desired by men. But while Kiarostami uses this woman to provoke response, her interrogative nature, whether improvised or scripted, can be construed as both disrespectful and rash.

It's only really when the boy is on screen that the themes of the film begin to take shape, and the struggles between gender and family appear at their most natural and powerful. His anger is emotive, and believably a product both of Iranian society's treatment of Women, and of the rebellion of his mother against her imposed role. Kiarostami's Ten is an examination of this, and subsequently has elements of documentary about it, yet its interrogative tone often descends the film into episodic soap opera, almost alienating some of its characters as fixed representations. It's with this serial-esque account that the line between reality and fiction is continually blurred within the film. Are people really this eager to impose their own values? I'm not so sure.

Grade: B-