Review: Predestination

Released: 20^th February (cinema, Blu-Ray and on demand)

Certificate: 15

Directors: Michael and Peter Spierig

Screenwriters: Michael and Peter Spierig

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor

We’ve all heard the one about the guy walking into the bar. However, when that bar is tended by a time-travelling secret agent working incognito to foil a notorious bomber, and the guy walking in has an incredible and tragic story to tell, things can begin to take off in some very unexpected directions. The agent in question, played by Ethan Hawke, is undercover in 1970s New York when into his bar walks John (Sarah Snook), a writer with a chequered past and a thirst for revenge. The two strike up a conversation, but find that their fates are more intertwined than they might have first expected.

Opting to pick a tricky time-twisting premise (based on Robert A Heinlein’s story ‘All You Zombies’) and run with it, Predestination is high-concept science fiction at its hyperbolic best. The cast absolutely sell the somewhat absurd story, which is the main reason that the film works as well as it does. Hawke’s mysterious time traveller is clearly conflicted, disobeying his own rules regarding time jump frequency, and while he seems honest enough Hawke puts something behind his eyes which never quite allows the audience to trust his motives. But Predestination is really brought to life by Sarah Snook’s portrayal of the hangdog John, before and after his transition to male. The bitter and purposeless John of 1978 is a sharp contrast to his younger self, who is capable, cocky and ambitious, and whose life is ruined by a romantic indiscretion.

Transgender and intersex characters (both identities are relevant to John) are still a rarity in cinema, and so each occurrence bears an unfair burden of representation. In this respect, Predestination is a partial success. The depiction of the physical aspect of John’s transition, while frank, does not feel prurient or exploitative, and his gender identity is not the most interesting thing about his character. However, there is an amount of biological determinism at play which, while completely at home in a story which is all about determinism, perhaps should have been examined and deconstructed further.

The light touch with which the film treats its heftier themes saves it from getting bogged down in its own mythology, however at times this focus on pace over philosophising can render things a little shallow. This is reflected in the direction and cinematography, which provides some arresting images but is ultimately more functional than truly artistic. Similarly, although the tricky time travel narrative is well synthesized, the visual execution is sometimes a little clumsy, flagging up the twists so that their arrival has perhaps less impact than might have been possible otherwise.

Choosing to eschew philosophical navel-gazing in favour of a compact and fast-paced plot, Predestination occasionally feels a little slight. However, the unique premise and fantastic performances by the principal cast bring a real charm to this entertaining piece which rewards repeat viewing.

Verdict: 4/5

Image credit: facebook.com/PredestinationMovie

Mini Review: Selma

Released: 6^th February

Certificate: 12A

Director: Ava DuVernay

Screenwriter: Paul Webb

Cast: David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Carmen Ejogo, Lorraine Toussaint, Oprah Winfrey, Tim Roth

Director Ava DuVernay lends urgency to this Martin Luther King biopic focusing on the months leading up to the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King (David Oyelowo) and his organisation plan a march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama to protest the entrenched racism preventing black people from voting in the US, despite them technically having the right to do so. Webb’s screenplay artfully illustrates the myriad tensions present in America at the time, and also within King’s organisation and his personal life, and the political conversations are both fascinating and illuminating. Oyelowo’s performance is extraordinary, showcasing both King’s superlative strengths and his very human weaknesses and doubts. The confrontations between King and Tom Wilkinson’s sympathetic but pragmatic President Johnson are particularly engaging, but all of the strong supporting cast bring gravity to the picture. DuVernay’s dynamic direction brings the drama to life, giving a sense of movement to the conversation-based scenes and shocking impact to the protest set-pieces. The knotty nature of the events in question at times means the pace slips slightly, and perhaps the film runs a little long. However, as a deft and complex portrait of an important historical figure and event told in a truly cinematic manner, Selma is an accomplished success.

Verdict: 4/5

Image credit: selmamovie.com

Review: The Duke of Burgundy

Released: 20^th february

Certificate: 18

Director: Peter Strickland

Screenwriter: Peter Strickland

Cast: Sidse Babett Knudsen, Chiara D’Anna, Fatma Mohamed

Peter Strickland’s third feature is a surprisingly moving tale of a couple attempting to reconcile vastly competing sexual needs. Evelyn and Cynthia reside in an unnamed European village surrounded by forest where the one acceptable pursuit (other than BDSM) appears to be entomology. In first scene of The Duke… we observe an elaborate maid-mistress roleplay where Evelyn meekly carries out a bevy of domestic tasks at the behest of the chilly Cynthia. But things are not as they seem, and it quickly becomes apparent that although Evelyn takes the submissive role in the scenario, it is Cynthia who is perhaps making more compromises than she’d like in order to keep Evelyn happy.

Let’s get one thing out of the way first. Despite the hefty 18 certificate (gained for its ‘fetish theme’), there is little here which feels overly explicit or voyeuristic, and the intimate scenes have more in common with the Wachowskis’ Bound than with the brashness of Blue is the Warmest Colour. Although, like those films, it fails to break the problematic paradigm of being a male imagining of a relationship between women (although admittedly Bound was co-written and directed by a woman), it deftly avoids falling victim the worst pitfalls of that model. Strickland’s portrayal of Evelyn and Cynthia places the focus firmly on the emotional intricacies underpinning their relationship, and is far more interested in exploration than titillation.

As Evelyn and Cynthia’s courtship plays out over a tantalisingly uncertain (and possibly recursive) timeline, the warp and wend of their affection for each other is interleaved with dreamlike interludes in the surrounding forest and the halls of the nearby entomology institute (if you’re wondering how dreamlike, slow tracking shots of a lecture audience reveal, with no explanation, that some of the attendees appear to be mannequins). The insect imagery utilised throughout The Duke… is fascinating, if obtuse. A moth butting the windowpane manifests Cynthia’s increasing feelings of confinement, but the time-lapse shots of writhing larvae and crawling beetles are more mysterious, although perhaps enhance the theme of finding beauty in what may outwardly seem bizarre. The deliberate staginess of the direction and cinematography is a little off-putting, though this is presumably a constraint imposed by the vintage 1970s erotic melodramas to which The Duke… is an irreverent homage. However, it does lend the proceedings an oddly stilted feel at times, not helped by the languid pace and fractal repetition of motifs. Furthermore, although Sidse Babett Knudsen is fantastic as reluctant domme Cynthia, providing a wonderfully subtle tragicomic performance where every twitch of the eyebrow speaks volumes, Chiara D’Anna doesn’t quite manage to inject as much depth into the wide-eyed Evelyn. However, in a film as stylised as The Duke… this could well be due to directorial decisions as much as ones on the part of the actor.

Those that can either enjoy or excuse the trappings of the stylisation (and the merry discussion of human toilets) will find The Duke of Burgundy a work of emotional depth, tenderness and wry humour, while others may dismiss it as absurd. I fell firmly into the former camp, completely won over by this strange and ethereal piece of contemporary arthouse cinema.

Verdict: 4/5

Image credit: protagonistpictures.com