INSIDE OUT

Have you noticed that the best, and certainly the most intelligent, children's films of recent years have been cartoons? Alright, animated films; cartoons, I've been told, are so yesteryear! The "Toy Story" trilogy were not just great adventure movies that adults as well as children could enjoy but profound meditations on what makes us tick. What grown-up can watch any of those films without welling up? "Inside Out"
, then, would appear to be the next logical step because this is a movie about nothing else but our emotions; joy, anger, sadness, fear and disgust and how all the things going on in our head, (or, in this case, in the head of an 11 year old girl whose family up sticks and move from the Midwest to San Francisco), can affect our core being. This is a movie that is as profound as anything by Resnais or Bergman but a lot more fun, designed for adults and children alike. It looks great and sounds even better thanks to the best original screenplay of the year. Here is an animated film that is guaranteed to win this year's Oscar for Animated Feature and, if there is any justice, should also end up among the Best Picture nominees as well.

A RAISIN IN THE SUN

"A Raisin in the Sun" is one of the great plays of the American Theatre, a kind of African-American "Death of a Salesman" that shows, not only the turmoil of one African-American family in Chicago, but goes on to recount the history of black people in America from the time of slavery to the time the play was written in the late fifties in language that is almost poetry. It was written by the 29 year old Lorraine Hansberry and was her only work of note; she would be dead within 5 years of this film version, (the song 'To Be Young, Gifted and Black' was written to honour her). 

This screen version isn't much of a film. As directed by Daniel Petrie it's hardly a film at all but at least it's an honourable recording of this great play, allowing millions of people the chance of seeing it, perhaps in the way Hansberry would have wanted since she herself did the screenplay. Petrie hardly ever opens it out beyond its one room set; a few flashy camera angles being as close as he comes to acknowledging we are watching a film and not a play while his decision to keep the original Broadway cast is a considerable bonus though admittedly the acting is often more theatrical than cinematic.

Sidney Poitier is magnificent as the son with big dreams of becoming a businessman unlike his labourer father. Diana Sands is the sister exploring her heritage with dreams of becoming a doctor and is the character most likely to be based on Hansberry and Ruby Dee, the wife who just longs for a home of her own and some peace in her marriage while Claudia McNeil is tremendous as the mother whose inheritance of a $10,000 insurance policy on her husband is the cause of most of the trouble in the family.



There are certainly melodramatic touches and at times you feel Hansberry has bitten off more than she can chew; there seems to be enough material here for two or three plays but the writing and here, the acting is all that it should be, making this an impressive addition to filmed theatre.

THIS LAND IS MINE

"This Land is Mine"is, perhaps, Jean Renoir's finest American film and certainly his most underrated. Initially it may seem like just another piece of anti-Nazi propaganda centering on the heroism of the occupied French and in particular on the eventual heroism of a mild-mannered schoolteacher, (Charles Laughton, superb), but as scripted by Dudley Nichols this is a very different kind of war-film from others of its ilk; words are primarily the weapons here and unusually for an American film of its period the Germans aren't painted as total monsters. Naturally, the arguments are weighed heavily in favour of the downtrodden and rightly so but there's a great deal of intelligence on display in the way these arguments are presented and the relationships between all the central characters are beautifully developed by Renoir. As well as Laughton those fighting on the side of freedom include Maureen O Hara, (surprisingly good), Kent Smith and Philip Merivale while fascism is represented by Walter Slezak. The quisling is George Sanders and there's a surprisingly energetic performance from Una O'Connor as Laughton's possessive mother. Laughton's lengthy monologue at the end may go on a bit longer than necessary but there's no denying the sincerity. Essential viewing both for aficionados of the director and of Laughton.

THE RIDER

"The Rider" of the title is Brady Blackburn and he's played by Brady Jandreau, a non-professional who is basically 'playing' himself as indeed are everyone else in the cast. Chloe Zhao's film isn't a documentary but it may as well be since everything that happens is basically 'real', even if it is scripted, (by the director herself). Zhao has fashioned a scenario that in the hands of a more seasoned director would have smacked of Hollywood but this indie is totally unadorned and yet is ravishingly beautiful in a Malick kind of way, (it was actually filmed in the Badlands of Dakota). It could have been made in the seventies but then it would have had a professional cast and would have been the product of an established studio.


Nothing happens. When the film opens Brady has suffered a serious head injury after being thrown at a rodeo and for the next two hours the film simply observes him adjust to a more sedentary kind of life but one that also includes a new-found relationship with a new horse. It's utterly unromantic and while clearly aimed at the festival circuit it's a film that deserves to find an audience and a life of its own long after the festivals finish. It's also one of the best films I've seen this year.

THE THIRD MAN

"The Third Man" isn't just the greatest thriller ever made but one of cinema's great masterpieces. There isn't a single redundant shot or moment in the entire picture which has become one of the most 'quoted' of all time. If you've seen it you will already know the brilliance of its relatively simple plot; if you haven't then I envy you the luxury of experiencing it for the first time. Everyone connected with it, both in front of and behind the camera, was working at the top of their form. Graham Greene concocted it and it's one of the great scripts, (even if the 'cuckoo clock' speech is reputed to have been written by Orson Welles).

Welles plays Harry Lime and he is one of cinema's most iconic characters; he may be in only three scenes but he dominates the picture. Joseph Cotten is his friend, Holly Martin, an American writer determined to find out what happened to Lime. Trevor Howard is the British major out to expose him and Alida Valli is the actress in love with Lime. Robert Krasker's expressionistic black and white cinematography is among the most luminous in all of film; he shot it mostly in the ruins of Vienna and won a richly deserved Oscar while Anton Karas' zither music is justly famous. The director was Carol Reed who out-Hichcock's Hitchcock in his handling of the material. It was once voted the best British film ever made; who am I to disagree?

NO LOVE FOR JOHNNIE

"No Love for Johnnie" is that rarest of beasts, a film about British politics and, more over, a highly intelligent one though perhaps the biggest surprise is that this first-rate film came from the Betty Box/Ralph Thomas stable. This producer/director team were hardly noted for good, serious movie-making but they hit pay dirt here. Peter Finch is outstanding, (he won both a BAFTA and a Best Actor at Berlin), as the highly ambitious Labour MP whose extramarital affair could be his downfall though this isn't so much a film about sex and scandal as it is about the cut and thrust of British politics. Consequently it's a lot less melodramatic than it might have been. Finch dominates, (he's hardly ever off the screen), in a film that boasts an outstanding supporting cast, though to be fair, few others are given much of a chance to shine. This is Finch's film and it marked a huge step forward in bringing intelligent, adult fare into British cinemas in the early sixties.

THE CINCINNATI KID

Norman Jewison may not have been one of the greatest of directors but he did give us a couple of the most sheerly enjoyable films ever made, one of which, "In the Heat of the Night", won the the Oscar for Best Picture. Two years before, he gave us "The Cincinnati Kid". It didn't pick up a single Oscar nomination but it probably provided more pleasure than any of the films that were nominated that year, including "The Sound of Music".

Some people describe it as 'The Hustler' of poker with Steve McQueen as The Kid who wants to be The Man. The Man is actually Edward G Robinson and he's simply magnificent here. You feel this is the part he was born to play and not 'Little Caesar', but then every part is perfectly cast. As well as McQueen and Robinson there's Ann-Margaret, (a bad girl and Oscar-worthy), Tuesday Weld, (a good girl), Karl Malden, Rip Torn and a terrific Joan Blondell as Lady Fingers.

The brilliant screenplay is by Ring Lardner Jr. and Terry Southern from the novel by Richard Jessup, (the film is at least the equal of the book and probably better), and it's superbly photographed, designed and scored. It is, of course, a much cosier picture than "The Hustler", a real crowd-pleaser but one that courted its share of controversy at the time by showing a white man in bed with a black woman. Nevertheless, it was a huge hit and further enhanced McQueen's reputation as the coolest man on the planet and even if you know the outcome it's a film you can watch again and again without ever getting bored.

A GHOST STORY

Aficianados of the horror movie will hate "A Ghost Story" for this tale of a lonely ghost moves at a snails pace, (writer/director David Lowery isn't built for speed). A little like Anthony Mingella's "Truly Madly Deeply" before it, it's about grief and loss and not letting go. Early in the film the character played by Casey Affleck is killed off, only to return as a ghost, rising from his mortuary slab under a large white sheet with holes for eyes like someone playing at being a ghost on Halloween. He spends the rest of this virtually silent film searching, though I'm not sure he quite knows what he's searching for.

Nothing very much happens and when any of the tropes of the horror movie do raise their head they are quickly dismissed and forgotten. In the films most memorable scene he simply stands and watches his grieving widow, (Rooney Mara), as she sits and eats a very large pie. In a conventional horror film he would fly across the room to terrify her and us but here it's she who races from the room to throw up.

There's little dialogue and no real action yet the film is incredibly moving; ghosts, it seems, are everywhere, waiting for something or someone that may or may not come. Death, like life, holds its disappointments. This is not a movie for everyone but if you're in the mood for a languorous, ruminative meditation on life after death it's certainly the film for you.

CLASSE TOUS RISQUES

Both Bresson and Melville are reputed to be big fans of "Classe Tous Risques" and it's easy to see why; either man could have directed this classic French gangster picture. The actual director was Claude Sautet and it's one of the greatest second films in movie history, (in the 15 year period between 1956 and 1970 Sautet made only 4 films). He made this one in 1960 around the time of the New Wave and while it's more traditional than something Godard or Truffaut might have done, nevertheless Sautet brings to it a freshness of approach that other gangster pictures of the period seem to lack. From the absolutely stunning opening sequence it's clear that this film will be infused with a good dose of existential angst as well as the requisite thrills that a really good gangster movie needs.

Two fugitives, (Lino Ventura and Stan Krol), have decided it's time to get out of Italy and back to France as the net closes in around them but they need money. They commit a foolhardy, though daring, daylight robbery and go on the run. This opening and the chase that follows is as good as anything in crime movies. The money they make, however, is hardly enough to sustain them, (Ventura has a wife and two sons to support), so they must rely on a network of friends and criminal associates and men on the run, already operating on the very edge, need all the friends they can get, however untrustworthy they may be and these guys friends prove to be very untrustworthy indeed but when tragedy strikes Ventura seems to have no option.

With the possible exceptions of Dassin's "Rififi" and several of Jean-Pierre Melville's classic gangster pictures this remains one of the greatest of genre films and is all the better for being, fundamentally, a low-key character piece. Ventura is perfect as the world-weary thief who would really rather just settle down and raise his family and he is matched by a young Jean-Paul Belmondo as the stranger who becomes his only real friend and ally. The brilliant black and white cinematography is by Ghislain Cloquet, (it was shot largely on location), and it is beautifully adapted by Sautet, Pascal Jardin and Jose Giovanni from Giovanni's novel.

NEBRASKA

Alexander Payne could now best be described as a world-class director whose every film is an event to look forward to and to celebrate and to paraphrase John Ford when he said "I make westerns", Payne could just as easily say "I make road-movies", and he makes road-movies unlike anyone else. Like Ford, Payne's films deal with small people in large landscapes coping with the daily grind of the mundane, the comical and the tragic. Death, loss and regret figure prominently in Payne's landscape but he handles these subjects with a remarkable lightness of touch and his films deal with journeys, both literal and metaphorical, that end in an epiphany.

In Payne's latest film, "Nebraska", the journey is of a father and son, (and latterly a mother), back to the place of the father's upbringing. But this is no nostalgic bonding exercise; the father, (a magnificent Bruce Dern, in a career-defining performance), believes he has won a million dollars and must travel to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim his prize. The son knows it's all a scam but indulges his father's whim and drives him there, mostly because there is nothing much else going on in his life. The journey, like the journeys in "About Schmidt", "Sideways" and "The Descendants" is, of course, about more than the literal travelling from one place to another and about moving to another place within ourselves that we had either lost or have yet to find. Dern is a simple man who believes anything he is told and everyone who tells him. Consequently he is taken advantage of by everyone around him and it's only his son, (a lovely, subdued Will Forte), who is prepared to tell him the truth yet even he is prepared to hide those truths that he knows will hurt his father.

In dramatic terms not a great deal happens yet you could say all human life is here. Most of the characters are old and have lived lives of little consequence in the greater scheme of things yet they are mostly happy. They haven't missed what they haven't had. Life hasn't passed them by; it's just something they've observed from the sidelines and a million dollars will buy Dern the new truck he has always wanted and the compressor he gave to an old friend thirty years before. That's all a million dollars means to him.

It is, of course, a comedy; as funny and as sad as "About Schmidt" and "The Descendants" and like those films the humour is largely organic, stemming from the characters and not the situations. There are scenes that are laugh-out-loud funny while others will move you to tears and it's beautifully written, (by Bob Nelson), and played, not just by Dern and Forte but also by June Squibb, (Nicholson's wife in "About Schmidt"), as the foul-mouthed mother, Stacy Keach, in a stunning return to form, as Dern's old friend and nemesis and a whole load of faces so lived in they don't seem to belong to actors but the people they are playing.

Payne chose to shoot  "Nebraska" in monochrome, conjuring up images and memories of a past literal and cinematic. In that respect it sits well beside Bogdanovitch's tributes to Ford and earlier cinema, "Paper Moon" and "The Last Picture Show" as well as a number of classic Ford films going all the way back to "The Grapes of Wrath".  It's as good as anything I've seen this year and it confirms Payne as a master.

WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

Savaged by the critics, (except perhaps for the over-praised Saul Bass designed credit sequence of a prowling cat), Edward Dmytryk's film version of Nelson Algren's 'scandalous' novel "Walk on the Wild Side" isn't nearly as bad as its reputation suggests. It's certainly unevenly acted, (a miscast Laurence Harvey is terrible and perhaps surprisingly Jane Fonda isn't much better but Barbara Stanwyck is terrific as a very butch lesbian madame and Capucine is surprisingly good as the object of both Harvey and Stanwyck's affection), and naturally it fudges the central issues of prostitution and lesbianism but it's very well shot by Joe MacDonald, beautifully designed and the screenplay by John Fante and Edmund Morris does manage to keep some of Algren's original poetry. Dmytryk was always a better director than critics gave him credit for and if he was often constrained by the studio system he was no slouch either. If this isn't the best film he ever made it still has much to recommend it.