Sunday, 21 April 2013

On Didactic Filmmaking with Promised Land


With a title such as Promised Land you would not be surprised to find biblical references in Gus Van Sant’s latest film and they are there. However, the film has more in common with Springsteen’s Promised Land (here referenced by a mass karaoke session) and the singer’s consistent effort to highlight the plight of working America.  

Promised Land, like Springsteen, wears its politics on its sleeve and social justice is at the heart of what writers and stars Matt Damon and John Krasinski have achieved. And they achieve it well with a film that may not be subtle but makes its point and does so while managing to mostly feel well balanced. A skill not to be underestimated.

More than anything Promised Land comes across as being incredibly well researched. The fact that it is well researched means its characters feel real and relatable, with the exception of a few mistimed third act moves. We leave feeling that we understand a little more about fracking and natural gas and this may have well been the intention; an educational piece of mass entertainment and it is easy to imagine that all involved will feel they’ve done their job if audiences (especially in mid America) understand a little more about a very current issue. And for this Promised Land is to be congratulated and seen. 

On Ambitious Filmmaking with The Place Beyond the Pines


The Place Beyond the Pines is something of an oxymoron insomuch as it is a high concept, low budget independent film. Derek Cianfrance’s first feature, the excellent Blue Valentine (2010) was the simple story of love from its origins to its demise. The film was remarkable for Cianfrance’s honest direction, the candidness of his script and the performances he drew from Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.
 
Much of what was to be admired in Blue Valentine can be admired in The Place Beyond the Pines. This second feature is beautifully shot in 35mm and his script again manages to capture the brutal honesty of relationships. The acting is also superb. Where audiences may struggle with Beyond the Pines is in the ambition Cianfrance displays, which rather than projects the film forward, holds it back.
For a second feature, Beyond the Pines is a narrative that spans three generations all connected by massive coincidences and inextricably linked by the eponymous location the significance of which is never that clear.

A result of this multi stranded story, told via a triptych is that we never feel that connected to the characters; the connection we feel to them is forced, fake even. We know how we are meant to feel about them as Cianfrance’s mise-en-scene communicates so much, but the truth is we leave Beyond the Pines feeling impressed but empty. The audience are required to implant their own experiences into this film to make the characters really work and because of the reputation of the actors and the director many will do this and mistake it for genuine powerful filmmaking. This story of fathers and sons lacks authentic emotion and in this way it has the style but not the substance of Blue Valentine

Saturday, 13 April 2013

On Failing to Impress with Oblivion


Thematically similar to Moon (2009), with some of Wall-E’s (2008) visual style and a dénouement straight out of Independence Day (1996), Oblivion calls on many great films from the science fiction genre but fails to establish itself as a individual product.

The story is sound and after the film’s conclusion when one thinks back on it, the idea provokes debate. Yet, it is a fault of the direction that during the film, especially the first two acts, Oblivion is boring. The actors (all great in previous films) deliver their lines without passion and Oblivion seems to rest on it’s settings, hoping these will impress us enough to forget the drawn out story and poor direction. CGI should be there to complement the story whereas in Oblivion it takes priority over it. Unfortunately the CGI, while impressive, is nothing we haven’t seen before.

By the time the third act comes, the film comes to life, but it is not enough to secure Oblivion a worthy place in the canon of science fiction cinema. In the hands of a better director Oblivion could have been something. A Spielberg for example would have really highlighted the story’s ethical questions, rather than disregarding them as if they were too complicated for audiences. However, it appears we will be given another chance at seeing a similar story delivered with more skill when Elysium arrives later this year.    

Sunday, 7 April 2013

On Trance


Never one to make the easy choice by working in a similar genre or take an easy directing choice, Danny Boyle follows his we-all-know-how-it-ends-story, 127 Hours (2010) with Trance. Trance is about and partially set inside the mind and therefore draws thematic links with recent philosophy of the mind cinema such as Memento (2000), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Inception (2010). However, Boyle has been quite clear that Trance is his tribute to Nicolas Roeg.

If it were nothing else, Trance is visually a beautiful film. Boyle plays with colour, light and shadow to create an aesthetic treat, relevant for a film to do with art. However, Trance is so much more that visually pleasing, yet it does require one giant leap of faith. We are required to suspend our disbelief that hypnotherapy can have a powerful hold over people to the extent that the hypnotherapist can influence them to do anything. This, Trance tells us, is possible with only 5% of the population. Whether this is true or not, on film it falls more into the realm of fantasy than reality and that only adds to Trance’s appeal.

If you accept the hypnotherapy the film is gripping. The script, by Joe Ahearne and John Hodge is impressively intelligent, balancing the complex inner outer mind shifts with skill and ensuring the conclusion is clear. Characters are also very smartly drawn and force us to question who we think is right and wrong. Yet, perhaps most impressive in a film so routed in fantasy and abstract imagery is that the story is heart wrenchingly real and ultimately a tragic love triangle.

Trance is many things and defies easy categorisation, much like Boyle himself. But whatever it is, it deserves seeing.