Paulina García’s performance has won acclaim at film festivals everywhere, and the Silver Bear for best actress at Berlin, and Sebastián Lelio’s film is Chile’s entry for the foreign film Oscar. Susan Patterson is unconvinced.
All posts by Susan Patterson
Chained
by Susan Patterson
It’s difficult to know what to say about Jennifer Lynch’s Chained, beyond I didn’t like it. I really, really didn’t like it. I don’t like graphic violence, I don’t like the serial killer genre, I don’t like kidnapping stories: the odds were stacked against Chained but I understood that it was trying to say something different about serial killers, so I thought that it deserved to be seen through to the end.
Partners in Crime
by Susan Patterson
Partners in Crime (Associés Contre le Crime... ) (2012) is Pascal Thomas’ third adaptation featuring Agatha Christie’s detective duo Tommy, renamed Bélisaire for a French audience, and Tuppence, going by her full name of Prudence. Christie’s introduced the couple in 1922 in the Secret Adversary. They were a frothy, cheerful couple, who reappeared in Partners in Crime in 1929, a collection of short stories, and a further three novels, the couple ageing with the time passed between the books.
Lawrence of Arabia
by Susan Patterson
The 50th Anniversary Restoration of Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is an immense film in every respect: the score by Maurice Jarre, which begins before the first frame is seen (and the beautiful performance by the London Philharmonic conducted by Boult); the vast desert panoramas photographed by F A Young in Panavision 70; its 227 minute restored running time; the central eponymous performance by Peter O’Toole, with Omar Sharif supporting, all make this something very special. Director David Lean, Jarre and Young all won Oscars, producer; it won Best Picture for producer Sam Spiegal; Anne Coates best editing; and there were further Oscars for sound and art direction, plus four BAFTAs.
Continue reading Lawrence of Arabia
Mostly Film Needs You – The Best of 2012
It’s that time of year again: time to look back, reminisce, and think of the good old days, or What Really I Liked in 2012. For two weeks in December one writer will get Mostly Film to themselves each day to write about their favourite film , TV series, album, game, or Twitter feed (not really). The way we publish at the moment that’s six pieces, but if a lot of people are interested there’s space for ten.
Continue reading Mostly Film Needs You – The Best of 2012
Margin Call
by Susan Patterson
margin call (noun) 1. a demand by a broker that an investor deposit further cash or securities to cover possible losses
J C Chandor’s Margin Call (2011) is a clever, smart film, and I don’t understand how I missed it when it went on general release in January. Admittedly, it came out the same week as Shame and War Horse, but I was already jaded by Fassbender’s cock, and horses, even brave ones, hold even less interest for me.
The Bourne Legacy
by Susan Patterson
The Bourne Legacy, the fourth film in the increasingly inaccurately named ‘Bourne Trilogy’, had a difficult birth. The Bourne Ultimatum, with its opening sequence featuring the assassination of a fictional Guardian reporter in Waterloo Station, filmed amongst the real life public, came out in 2007. Paul Greengrass, who directed Ultimatum, and The Bourne Supremacy (2004) (taking over from Doug Liman who directed The Bourne Identity (2002)), parted company with the franchise in 2009, citing creative differences with the studio, Universal, after they had commissioned two scripts for the next film without consulting him. Matt Damon followed him out of the door. Universal then hired Tony Gilroy who had written all three of the previous films, to write and direct Legacy.
Detachment
by Susan Patterson
I walked into Detachment cold. I knew nothing of Tony Kaye’s work (American History X was released at a time when I didn’t watch films and its subject matter never made me inclined to follow it up) but did know that Detachment starred Adrien Brody and was (probably) a drama. Had I bothered to do my homework I would have never stepped into the auditorium.
Man on a Ledge
by Susan Patterson
Ex-cop Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) checks into a room with a view in the Roosevelt Hotel, New York City, under a assumed name, eats a last meal, wipes the room clean of his finger prints, writes a note, and steps out the window and asks for police negotiator Laura Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) by name. A swift flashback sets up his relationships with his former partner Mike Ackerman (Anthony Mackie), who, like every fictional cop partner, believes in his innocence, and his no good brother kid brother Joey (British actor Jamie Bell not looking very much older than when he was Billy Elliot). A graveside altercation at his father’s funeral sees Cassidy overpower his guards, punch out Joey, steal his car, and crash into a train. Wouldn’t any of us be standing on a ledge after a day like that? Continue reading Man on a Ledge
Mostly Links
by Susan Patterson
This week Mostly Links, like everyone else, is pondering the Oscars nominees. The Catalans are consoling themselves over their disappointment that Pa Negre (Black Bread) didn’t make it into the final five for Best Foreign Language Film, with the two nominations they did get. Continue reading Mostly Links
MostlyFilm 