On The Adjustment Bureau

Philip K Dick has provided film makers with a lot of material. The latest to mine his archive is the romantic thriller with a twist of fantasy, The Adjustment Bureau. The film, written and directed by George Nolfi, is based on Dick’s story Adjustment Team.

The Adjustment Bureau tells the story of an ambitious politician (Matt Damon) whose fate is in the hands of a mysterious group of men who must keep him on track to fulfil his destiny. When a seductive ballet dancer (Emily Blunt) comes into his life, the adjustment bureau finds themselves battling against chance to keep the politician and the dancer apart, in case their destiny’s be ruined by their romantic involvement. Where the adjustment bureau have come from and how they have the powers they do raise similarities with It’s A Wonderful Life (1946).

There are strong fantasy / science-fiction elements here, but the heart of the story is the relationship between Damon and Blunt. This is exemplified by the handling of the respective scenes. The chemistry between Damon and Blunt feels believable and develops realistically; there is banter, awkwardness and flirting. In contrast, the scenes where the adjustment bureau men attempt to explain what is happening see a shift in the film and there is a slight tone of comedy or silliness as if the film doesn't know how to handle the complication of these scenes in a way that say, Inception (2010) does. Yet, due to a lack of subtlety in the expository scenes, the film allows room for the romance to come to the fore and lead the film structurally and emotionally.

The Adjustment Bureau’s material feels dumbed down to appeal to a wide audience and the questions of individuality, fate versus chance and control of our lives (key themes of Dick’s work) are present, but not explored in great detail. Yet The Adjustment Bureau does something that feels original to the romance genre, does it well and the result is an entertaining romantic thriller, with questions of identity for those who want to look for them.

On Seeing the Skyline in Battle: Los Angeles

In November a film called Skyline (2010) (see 18^th November 2010) opened with a shot of Los Angeles being destroyed by extra terrestrials then flashbacks to twenty four hours earlier. From here we meet a small group of civilians who then deal with the invasion as they try and escape an Iraq style war zone, mostly filmed with a hand held camera.

This month Battle: Los Angeles opens with a shot of Los Angeles being destroyed by extra terrestrials then flashbacks to twenty four hours earlier. From here we meet a small group of marines who then deal with the invasion as they try and escape an Iraq style war zone, mostly filmed with a hand held camera.

Take Independence Day (1996), War of the Worlds (2005) and District 9 (2009) and make sure to include all the clichéd speeches, characters, structure and alien autopsies, but remove any writing talent and you get Battle: Los Angeles. The only difference between this and Skyline is slightly better acting and a refreshing lack of surprise at the alien invasion; there have been so many films about it, it was bound to happen!

It looks like it will be up to Spielberg and Abrams to offer us quality in this genre with the upcoming Super 8 (2011). A trailer for Super 8 can be seen here, http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=30394

On Animal Kingdom

In an early voice over Joshua, the young narrator of Animal Kingdom says that criminals are all scared, because each one is aware that sooner or later, they’ll get caught. This is an unspoken assumption, on the part of audiences and characters for many films that focus on career criminals. From Heat (1995) to Point Break (1991) they are looking for a way out or a way to reduce the risk until an out becomes available. The difference with Animal Kingdom is we see a family of criminals who haven’t yet reached the point of realisation that their way of life has a short expiry date and are under pressure from a corrupt and illegally violent crime squad who are ready to put them into forced retirement. The most professional and relatable of the criminals, Barry is soon killed, leaving the rest struggling for leadership and us, as an audience, in the company of some intimidating and unpredictable characters.

Animal Kingdom is at its best when showing the surviving family in close confines; the almost incestuous and definitely overbearing matriarch, the paranoid drug addict, the quieter younger brother and the feared and mentally unstable elder brother, Pope. The metaphor being if you placed animals not at ease with each other in such close confines, there would soon be violence. (Noah’s Ark doesn’t focus on the animal infighting) And violence there is. We see all this through the eyes of Joshua, nephew to the criminals and grandson to the matriarch. Joshua has been thrown into this world after the death of his mother, who had the sense to keep him away from her family. However, Joshua’s reticence makes it difficult to identify with him and this is a major issue of the film. We are never sure what he is thinking or emoting and we leave with little understanding of his motivations, feelings or ambitions after the concluding events of the film.

Animal Kingdom doesn’t go for the action set pieces of other films about characters like these. It instead focuses on the relationships and the family dynamic, which is pushed to breaking point as the police close in. There are some clichés here, but they are delicately handled and importantly well acted. Animal Kingdom is far from ground breaking, even for Australian cinema (little of which makes it here), but it is never boring often makes for tense viewing.