Reflections on Breakfast at Tiffany's

This 1961 film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard feels at once incredibly modern and out of touch to contemporary eyes. The Mickey Rooney character is flagrantly racist and that his Japanese character adds little to the narrative, with his ethnicity being irrelevant makes the decision to cast the white actor even more uncomfortable. Sadly this is an issue Hollywood still struggles with. Claims of whitewashing were levelled at Matt Damon and the makers of The Great Wall (2016) and Ed Skrein resigned his role from the upcoming Hellboy for being cast in an Asian role. 

Much of Tiffany's is about identity, or the loss of it. Names become interchangeable, initialed, not given or lost entirely as the self appointed Holly Golightly searches for her place in a world that doesn't know what to do with her. As a representation of women, the character of Golightly feels free today and must have been a rarity in the 60s; she is unpredictable, constantly in flux, unwilling to accept being pigeonholed and chameleon like in her approach to survival; whether it is visiting a convict for money or preparing to be royalty in Brazil.

Yet, her happiness is rooted to a man. Perhaps even her survival. She is unwilling to be caged and therefore marriage must be on her terms. She is either unable or unwilling to secure a man who will challenge and dominate her and her story concludes by accepting the passive man, the man who has been dominated by women before and offers himself up as her second. In this we can see echoes of Emma Stone's character in La La Land (2015). A complicated character, unwilling to sacrifice any control in a relationship, instead choosing a marriage of convenience for her. 

It is undeniably a stylish film, a fun film and has something to say about gender roles in a decade that is defined by its contribution to feminist thinking. 

On Downsizing

​It is difficult to disagree with the message that Downsizing so precisely presents. One that we are slowly, but surely exhausting the earth's natural resources while contributing waste at an exponential rate. The combination of both requiring drastic solutions. This is where we find Downsizing early on, at a scientific conference where the drastic solution is being presented. There is much humour in this first third as it focuses on the process of downsizing, or getting small, and the level of detail that the writers have gone to in considering how such a procedure might be made realistic is impressive.  

As the film progresses and the humour moves aside for a closer examination of human responsibility, Downsizing explores some very interesting questions and seeks, in its detail, at times a scientific seeming script to provide answers. Regardless of the impossibility of the technology, the script, like many episodes of Black Mirror (2011 - ), feels well researched. This detail at times also bogs the film down in the actual, rather than taking more interesting or adventurous paths into the fantastical. Not that the film should attempt to be less realistic, especially after the work has been put in to root the film in a realistic base, but once it establishes its protagonist's journey, it sticks closely to this and, as a result, feels a little too long and predictable. 

Where a more interesting narrative thread may have taken the film is in the brief mention of the inevitable exploitation of the technology. The social inequality that exists in Leisure World (the premier small city) is an apt and important comment for the context of the film, but one we've seen before, even in Matt Damon's canon with 2013's Elysium. Early on, the film briefly touches on the technology being used by governments to punish, with a Vietnamese dissident becoming a character that reflects, but never really explores this. Moving further down such a path may have provided a more interesting narrative, where crime and race could have been addressed alongside the main message of environmental damage, which is set up so well at the start that it doesn't have to be addressed again.

There is a technology here that could lead to a darker tale, and a darker film that would benefit from the hands of a Charlie Brooker or José Saramago. Payne has taken the option of creating a safer, less critical film. One that is kinder on humanity than perhaps we deserve. 

On Hostiles

Much like his last film as a director, 2015’s Black Mass, Scott Cooper’s new film Hostiles is aware of its genre’s history and is careful to create an accurate and attractive mise-en-scene. Yet, also like Black Mass, it is a shallow film, replete with scenes that have been masterly shot, performances that are expertly delivered and grand, sweeping statements about life, destiny and our place in the world that more often than not fall flat as the groundwork into consistent character development hasn’t been achieved. Cooper’s characters are walking quotes, not real people.

The title, rather than referring to one specific enemy refers, it is assumed, to all men as well as the environment. Bale’s army captain, we are regularly reminded is equal to the most violent of Native Americans. Surely, there is a potent and relevant comment to be made here, yet Hostiles paints him as heroic while stressing his violent, immoral and illegal acts. Bale can carry great depth with the slightest of movements, but he can’t smooth over the glaring contradiction in his character.

Occupying the same territory as Cormac McCarthy’s brutal novel about the Indian Wars, Blood Meridian, Hostiles never delivers on its promise of threat. Instead, the death of almost all involved is delivered with more style than substance. From the shocking opening to the brutal, but off screen ending, Hostiles takes pleasure in showing the real violence of the time and the setting, but neglects to populate it with real people.

Despite these character inconsistencies, Hostiles is a film that moves comfortably at a slow pace and pays respect to its environment by framing it wonderfully. It is, at times, a gorgeous film. But, westerns need to say more on the important issues they explore rather than complete a tick box of genre conventions.

The Top 10 of 2017

The Thew Reviews' Top Ten of 2017


La La Land dir. Damien Chazelle written by Damien Chazelle

Jackie dir. Pablo Larraín written by Noah Oppenheim

Get Out dir. Jordan Peele written by Jordan Peele

Blade Runner 2049 dir. Denis Villeneuve written by Hampton Fancher & Michael Green

Call Me By Your Name dir. Luca Guadagnino written by James Ivory

Wind River dir. Taylor Sheridan written by Taylor Sheridan

Detroit dir. Kathryn Bigelow written by Mark Boal

Dunkirk dir. Christopher Nolan written by Christopher Nolan

Manchester By The Sea dir. Kenneth Lonergan written by Kenneth Lonergan

Moonlight dir. Barry Jenkins written by Barry Jenkins