2015 in movies: Anna’s top ten

2015 is rapidly drawing to a close (hello, the future!) and with the end of the year comes the irresistible temptation to look back and assess the year gone past. So here’s my tuppence worth: my top ten movies released in the UK in 2015.

10. Selma (Dir: Ava DuVernay)

Eschewing traditional biopic trappings to focus on a period of months approaching the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, DuVernay’s dynamic direction melded perfectly with David Oyelowo’s masterful performance to deliver a powerful and relevant film. SITCS rating: 4/5

9. Suffragette (Dir: Sarah Gavron)

Scripted by the superlative Abi Morgan, Suffragette harnessed the considerable talents of Carey Mulligan to bring humanity to the tale of the suffragette movement in the early 1900s. Although key players are glimpsed (Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst and Natalie Press as Emily Davison), at the heart of the story are the ordinary women who were inspired to stand up for what they believed was right.

8. The Falling (Dir: Carol Morley)

Strange and hypnotic, Morley’s tale of a 1960s girls school seized by a fainting epidemic was as enchanting as it was unsettling. Featuring a show-stopping performance from Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams, along with a strong supporting cast, The Falling’s many twists, turns and ambiguities provided food for thought long after the credits rolled. SITCS rating: 5/5

7. While We’re Young (Dir: Noah Baumbach)

Baumbach’s most serious film first matched and then pitted Ben Stiller’s documentary film maker with (/against) Adam Driver’s young upstart in a comedic tale of ambition. Although it felt like a move away from the screwball elements of Frances Ha, Baumbach’s signature line of absurdist humour was still very much present, such as in a surreal encounter between Stiller’s Josh and a bemused financier.

6. Les Combattants (Dir: Thomas Cailley)

A remarkably accomplished debut feature for French director Thomas Cailley, Les Combattants is a gently comedic tale about the aimless Arnaud (Kévin Azaïs), who follows apocalypse-obsessed Madeleine (the always excellent Adèle Haenel) into a military boot camp. Offering a wry look at youthful expectations of life and romance and featuring a fascinating third act tone-shift, Les Combattants delivered enjoyment above and beyond its simple premise, and Cailley will definitely be one to watch. SITCS rating: 4/5

5. Grandma (Dir: Paul Weitz)

Squeaking in at the last minute (it didn’t make it to Bristol until Dec 28^th) Grandma was a surprise entry into my top 10 this year. The straightforward story- a pregnant teen, fearing the wrath of her mother, goes to her grandmother for the cash necessary to get an abortion- is brought into vibrant life by a razor sharp comedic script and impressive performances, including Lily Tomlin as the gloriously acerbic titular matriarch, Elle. Although the slim running time doesn’t leave much time for exposition, the characters feel fully realised, and it’s a pleasure to be in their company. I found myself glued to the screen throughout.

4. Clouds of Sils Maria (Dir: Olivier Assayas)

Assayas’ postmodern tale of actress Maria Enders (Juliette Binoche) wrestling with insecurities brought bubbling to the surface in the wake of agreeing to play the role of the tragic older woman in a play about a relationship gone sour provided a fascinating exploration of the relationship between performer and material. This, combined with a complex friendship between Enders and her assistant Valentine (a César award winning turn from the increasingly impressive Kristen Stewart) and the breathtaking environs of the Swiss Alps amounted to a fascinating piece. SITCS rating: 4/5

3. Appropriate Behaviour (Dir: Desiree Akhavan)

A hilarious, warm and poignant coming of age tale following Shirin (Akhavan) as she attempts to recover from a breakup with her first girlfriend Maxine (Rebecca Henderson) and navigate the dual identities of being both bisexual and Iranian. Akhavan’s frank take on sexuality, family relationships and the foibles of generation Y works as both a knockabout comedy and an interesting illumination of one of the more frequently overlooked letters in the LGBTQ acronym. SITCS rating: 5/5

2. Ex Machina (Dir: Alex Garland)

2015 was an interesting year for sci-fi, with big blockbusters (The Martian, Star Wars: the Force Awakens) sitting easily alongside indie releases (from the frustrating The Signal to fascinating on-demand releases such as Predestination and Advantageous). Ex Machina was released in January and made enough of an impression on me that it’s still in the top three of the year. Nimbly navigating the potentially problematic premise of having a female-appearing AI under the gaze of two male observers, Ex Machina is a slow-burning thriller unafraid to dig its nails into the full implications of creating an artificial being capable of passing the Turing test. Standout performances from Domnhall Gleeson and the increasingly ubiquitous Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac compliment the well-considered script and neat direction. SITCS rating: 5/5

1. Carol (Dir: Todd Haynes)

It’s not often a straight-up (no pun intended) romance makes it near my top ten, but Todd Haynes’ glorious film stood out above all else this year. All oblique angles and loaded gazes, Haynes and screenwriter Phyllis Nagy’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt elegantly captured the love affair between unhappy socialite Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) and young photographer Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara). Charting the heady highs and lows of an improbable but irresistible infatuation without ever becoming overwrought, Blanchett and Mara put in career-best performances as the two lovers and provide a masterclass in acting between the lines. SITCS rating: 5/5

Happy 2016 everyone!

Mini review: Sisters

Year: 2015
Certificate: 15
Director: Jason Moore
Screenwriter: Paula Pell
Cast: Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Ike Barinholtz, Maya Rudolph, Madison Davenport.

Comedy dream team Fey and Poehler star as the titular siblings who, upon learning that their parents are selling the family home, decide to throw one last house party to relive those teenage years.

This kind of situational comedy Fey and Poehler can do in their sleep, and it’s good fun to see them off the leash for a rare R-rated venture. Fey plays deliciously against type as the 40-going-on-14 beautician Kate, a comic foil to Poehler’s pathologically sensible ‘party mom’ Maura. Although the plot- a chalk and cheese sisterly dynamic, drunken antics and a will-they-won’t-they romance – is nothing new, the script, coupled with Fey and Poehler’s improv, is sharp enough to deliver plenty of laughs and even a few surprises.

Verdict: 4/5

Image credit: sistersmovie.co.uk

Mini review: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Year: 2015

Certificate: 12A

Director: Francis Lawrence

Screenwriters: Peter Craig, Danny Strong, Suzanne Collins

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Mahershala Ali, Sam Clafin

After surviving the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell and becoming the figurehead of a nascent rebellion in the districts, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and the other rebels must face one final push into the Capitol if they are to overthrow the despotic President Snow and bring peace to Panem.

Director Francis Lawrence valiantly wrestles a well-paced action thriller from what is arguably one of the weaker books in the series, ably wrangling improbable setpieces as Katniss and co. make their way through the booby-trapped streets of the Capitol. The emotional beats work well, with Jennifer Lawrence doing most of the heavy lifting to inject credible human drama into the fantasy scenarios. However, it all feels a little paint-by-numbers at this point, and the demands of the plot leave little time for the sharp political allegory that was an attractive element in the second and third instalment, although the discussions around precisely how much violence is a justifiable price for peace are certainly topical. The impressive supporting cast (including a gloriously scene-stealing and all too brief reprisal from a shaven-headed Jena Malone as former tribute Johanna) get their moments to shine, and Josh Hutcherson gives his best performance of the series charting Peeta’s erratic recovery from torture and indoctrination at the hands of Snow.

While not the best of the franchise, Mockingjay part 2 rounds off the story well and provides an entertaining few hours of action with just enough political intrigue to bring some depth.

Verdict: 3/5

Image credit: lionsgate.com

Review: Carol

Year: 2015

Certificate: 15

Director: Todd Haynes

Screenwriter: Phyllis Nagy

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler, Jake Lacy

In 1950s New York a chance meeting between wealthy socialite Carol Aird and young department store clerk Therese Belivet quickly leads to a tentative romance. However, they must weather both the homophobic moral code of the era and the threats of Carol’s jealous ex-husband Harge if their relationship is ever to blossom.

Although at the surface langorous and dreamlike, Todd Haynes film still manages to offer a sharp commentary on the nature of attraction, love and jealousy and the rules by which lovers are bound. Carol and Therese’s courtship is one of bland conversation contrasted with questing, significant glances, neither woman being able to say (at first) exactly what they mean as it is not only socially forbidden but, one senses, emotionally too raw. Carol’s apparently offhand request for Therese to come and visit her betrays her longing and her loneliness as they sip soup in a dingy but opulent restaurant, while then tension hums between them.

Blanchett and Mara’s irresistible performances are at the centre of the film, and both actors are skilled enough to interpret the subtleties of Phyllis Nagy’s screenplay. By nature some of Carol and Therese’s conversation is opaque, but the leads, and Todd Hayne’s elegant direction, mean the audience understands exactly as much as they are intended to. Blanchett is fantastic as Carol, a woman torn between providing a social performance in order to hold on to her lifestyle and- more crucially- custody of her daughter and giving in to a new and powerful romance. In their initial meetings, the wonder and curiosity with which she gazes at Therese is tinted with something not unlike fear, even as she confidently invites Therese to her home. Mara brings the same intelligence and intensity as she did in Fincher’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, here similarly crafting a rich and believable identity from a character of few words. The dichotomy between Therese’s dawning awareness that for the first time in her life she has found something she wants and cannot live without, and her realisation in turn that this thing is riddled with complexity, is evident in every furrow of her brow and every straying of her eyes away from Carol’s to the floor or the window. Their early courtship is a cautious exchange of tentative admissions and stolen glances, and this sense of furtiveness, of not quite being able to believe what has just landed in front of them (as Carol says ‘such a strange girl… flung from space’) is borne out by Haynes’ and cinematographer Edward Lachman’s extensive and beguiling use of mirrors and windows. Like a kind of inverse medusa legend, their approach must be oblique for fear that the intensity of this thing that the language and culture of the time scarcely gives them words to describe will overcome both of them.

The supporting cast do much to flesh out and support the plot, providing alternate lenses through which the audience can view Carol and Therese. Sarah Paulson is fabulous as always as Carol’s longtime friend and ex-lover Abby, and Kyle Chandler brings humanity to Carol’s husband Harge who, while he understands that their marriage does not work, cannot quite let Carol go. It is to both Nagy and Haynes’ credit that Harge, while clearly the antagonist of the piece, is allowed to be three-dimensional and even engender a degree of sympathy even as his actions are clearly condemnable.

The considerable skill of the actors is bolstered by the other elements of the production, with Carter Burwell’s stirring score describing the action perfectly. The precise and delicate costume and set design both serves to anchor the film firmly in its 1950s setting but also somehow to enhance the sense of constriction felt by the characters in the roles that they have been forced by society to play. The slightly grainy filters, warm light and intense colour palette give the setting a vibrancy at the same time as bringing a slightly dreamlike quality to it, blending perfectly with the heady nature of Carol and Therese’s affair. High drama, but never slipping into melodrama, Carol is a soaring and beautifully made romance that will hopefully be regarded as a classic for years to come.

Verdict: 5/5

Image credit: carolfilm.co.uk

The Program Review

Breaking Bike 

Released : September 16th 2015

Certificate : 15

Director : Stephen Frears

Cast : Ben Foster, Chris O’Dowd, Dustin Hoffman, Jesse Plemons, Lee Pace

Plot : The biopic of Lance Armstrong (Foster) as he fights through cancer, rise to the sporting hall of fame, and then shames it with the discovery of his insentient performance enhancing drug usage. His story is obsessed over by journalist David Walsh (O’Dowd).

Stephen Frears third biopic film, moving from that of a partiotic queen through struggle of family crisis, and another sweet old lady finding her son, on to the man how lead the biggest sporting drugs controversy in sporting history. A story of much more dark and thrilling nature, which needed to convert the touching and moving work done of on his last two instalments into shock and awe. The story itself carries with it a large amount of that awe within the script, how much of it is dramatised is up for question, in particular extent of corruption as well as David Walsh’s involvement with the story. Providing Frears with great base material of which to build upon, with a story which is a real pitch change for Frears after perfecting his craft of the moving biopic whit Philomena and The Queen.

Additionally to we have the apperence of Ben Foster in his first main star role. As some biopics do including The Program, there is an large amount of reliance on the lead character, and this was more relivant to this film than other of recetn years such as Steve Jobs. As The Program carries with it little extra luggage in the war of supporting roles from actors that are well known (not to mean they will deliver poor performances), meaning Ben Foster carried the film alongside that of Frears (not to the same extent as Fassbender and Boyle). But the script provided as well as the brillliantly insightful account of the cheat, some solid material for the drama between that of Armstrong with Walsh as well as co-rider Floyd Landis (Plemons). While Armstrong and Walsh have limited time on screen, the script balanced the presentation well with the impact that both character have on each other worlds, something that will never had been gained from reading the news articles (gain the extent of this reality is questionable). This is the main drama of the film included, as the family life of Armstrong is almost entire left out, apart from a wedding, despite the man having five children.

So for the first man to carry the half of the film is that of Frears, who’s work on Philomena was close to the quality of the enjoyment of the film, which was immense. Frears sets the scene effectively with dated footage of the tour, followed by a low camera angle behind Lance, making him tower over the audience, an effect that is continued throughout the film. Despite this and other directorial techniques not being ground breaking, it was enjoyable to see some meaning behind the presentation of the film. And despite its simple nature the little techniques that are in place do prove simplistically effective, for example the repeated effect of low camera angle to present Lance proved very poignant in a scene showed in the trailer when he becomes rattled by the imposing nature of his dope supplier informing him of the imposing allegations in his home. Some what effort was imploued from Frears was clever and added to the exprence, but his work was not has appreciable or memorable as in previous works, where it felt as if he was more in tune with the stories.

The fact that Frears work wasn’t as dominate within the film may be due to the fact of the utterly absorbing performance of Ben Foster that stole the show. Some may argue that similarly to the new Steve Jobs the character is presented in a overly distasteful way for the sake of entertaining cinema, but with a character that is one of the most famous cheats, the representation is acceptable and uncanny to the real Lance. This is all the way down to the fact that Foster and Armstrong even look similar, which added a chilling edge to the performance. Not that this was needed, as Foster presented him as man who that you could both understand and reveal in his twisted morality. Scenes that provided scenes of striking acting skill, where that of the recognition of ‘defeat’ after his attempted come back into the tour, as well as the inevitable breaking point of when he is caught. This is to name but a few in a performance that is sound throughout, and despite the characters ‘evil’ nature is completely enjoyable to watch. A piece of work from Frears which was simple but effective in the positioning of Fosters performance was that of brief recreation of the famous Oprah interview.

The Program is film which by no means rest on the entertainment of just the story, with may aspects of the film providing high quality. And as the goal of a biopic is, it needs to remain thrilling and absorbing despite the audience knowing how it is all going to end, which the film does and then some. Adding to the enjoyment is that of surprisingly strong performances of that of O’Dowd, how captures the driven and slightly everyday man striving for morals to a surprisingly high level given his previous work. And another performance from that of Plemons, who plays the worker overshadowed and mistreated by that of Armstrong, who battles with his morality as well as his own drive to become the champion, which he is forced to suppress. Both of which acted to compliment the run away star of the show that is Foster’s performance, who dipictes anger, deceit, ego and despair beautifully in a character arch which we know who it plays out. But we are still driven to see each scene, as Foster role provides to be one of the best ‘villains’ this year so far.

Verdict : A true story, with true trills, and utterly absorbing insight into the true story, and thanks to carer best work from Ben Foster and Chris O’Dowd, a brillliant character study as well. The only hold back is Frears nothing being as good as always, but just because he ins’t firing on all cylinders, doesn’t mean that the film isn’t.

Verdict : 4/5

Quote : “And I will not be brought down.”