Tuesday, 17 December 2024

JUROR #2


 If "Juror #2" turns out to be the last film Clint Eastwood makes, (quite possible since the man is 94 now), at least he will have gone out in some style. This may not be a late career masterpiece but it's certainly the best thing he's done for awhile and is undoubtedly one of his best non-westerns.

The story-line, (a little far-fetched initially but as it progresses it becomes increasingly more realistic), concerns a juror on a murder trial who from the very start doubts the guilt of the accused because he realizes he himself may be the inadvertent killer so it works both as suspense movie, (who is the killer? Was the killing a tragic accident?), and a well-judged and thought out morality piece.

With an outstanding screenplay from Jonathan A. Abrams, beautifully nuanced direction from Eastwood and first-rate performances from the cast, (Nicholas Hoult is particularly good as the conscience-stricken juror), this is both an excellent entertainment and a film that challenges us to think before rushing to judgement.

Saturday, 7 December 2024

DIDI

 

Coming-of-age movies don't come much better than "Didi", the first feature film from Sean Wang, who has clearly a big future ahead of him. This movie, set mostly amongst the Asian American community, is so authentic it feels like a documentary as young Chris Wang, (an excellent Izaac Wang), negotiates the pitfalls of early adolescence. (fighting with his older sister, hanging out with his friends, learning to skateboard, falling for a girl and perhaps most significantly learning how to make videos).

His mom is a luminous Joan Chen and his grandmother the wonderfully expressive Zhang Li Hua, real-life grandmother of the director, who prefer to speak Mandarin at home and live a mostly traditional lifestyle, (dad is away working in Taiwan), and despite the arguments and the squabbling this is as loving a family unit as you will find in the movies. Indeed Wang has nothing but affection for every character in the film which is clearly autobiographical. Funny, very touching and a joy to watch.

Friday, 6 December 2024

CONCLAVE

Robert Harris doesn't do things by halves; he writes far-fetched thrillers and none more far-fetched than "Conclave" so anyone who goes to see the film version expecting to see a documentary-like account of how the Catholic Church elects a pope are in for a shock. "Conclave" is a melodramatic political thriller with the most ridiculous plot anyone could concoct. It's entertaining but in a very bad movie kind of way with more twists than a sailor's knot, each one sillier than the one before with a punchline that would be laugh-out-loud funny if it weren't in such questionable taste.

The director of this nonsense is Edward Berger who also made the Oscar-laden and overrated "All Quiet on the Western Front" and to be fair he does bring a certain style to the material. It's also quite well acted by a cast that's far too good for the script they've been saddled with. Ralph Fiennes brings his usual gravitas to the presiding Cardinal Lawrence while, once again, Stanley Tucci steals the movie from his co-stars. If you're Catholic and take any of this rubbish as fact you'll probably run from the Church and set up your own religion but anyone with a modicum of intelligence should see through it twenty minutes in.
 

Monday, 2 December 2024

EMILIA PEREZ


 Musicals come in all shapes and sizes. This year alone we've already had "Joker: Folie a Deux" which certainly broke new ground in the way in which it incorporated its musical numbers into its dark narrative but "Joker: Folie a Deux" feels almost commonplace when set beside Jacques Audiard's extraordinary "Emilia Perez", the tale of a Mexican drug-lord's transition from male to female with the musical numbers so seamlessly woven into the narrative it often feels like an opera with swathes of dialogue sung by its large cast; it really is quite unlike anything else out there.

It's been described as 'a women's picture' in that it is dominated by its mostly female cast, with all four leading actresses taking the Best Actress prize at Cannes, namely the incredible trans actress Karla Sofia Gascon who plays both the male drug-lord Manitas and Emilia, the woman he becomes, Zoe Saldana, the lawyer who helps Emilia on her journey, Selena Gomez as Jessi, Manitas' wife and Adriana Paz as the woman who becomes Emilia's lover.

Indeed this is a work of real brilliance and imagination; if it does have a failing perhaps it lies in its score, (by Camille and Clement Ducol), which doesn't always come off and the treatment, however bold and remarkable, is unlikely to appeal to a mass audience. This is a film for the critics and the awards circuit and I'm sure the prizes will keep coming. In fact, this may even turn out to be a classic.

JUROR #2

 If "Juror #2" turns out to be the last film Clint Eastwood makes, (quite possible since the man is 94 now), at least he will have...