Fim Review: Django Unchained

Django Unchained. Rated MA 15+ (strong bloody violence and themes). 165 minutes. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Verdict: A brilliant cast brings Tarantino’s provocative southern adventure to life in high style.

This latest film in Tarantino’s career-long study of the grand theme of revenge is an extraordinarily complicated beast that can be appreciated on a number of levels. Beautifully shot by Tarantino’s (and Oliver Stone’s) frequent collaborator, cinematographer Robert Richardson, Tarantino’s finely-wrought screenplay combines wit, humour, passion, chance and the thrill of the tasks at hand perfectly.

Django Unchained can just as easily be dismissed as a gruesome pantomime from a bygone era that requires us to ignore just how much has changed about the way African Americans are portrayed in contemporary cinema. Either way, there is little doubt that Tarantino is an exceptional provocateur – but if Django Unchained is remembered for anything in years to come, it will be for the fearless performances from his exceptionally committed cast.

When the slave Django Freeman (Jamie Foxx) is purchased by bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), the pair agree that if Django can help Schultz track down the evil Brittle brothers, he will help Django find and rescue his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) who is a slave to the ruthless plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). As the tense negotiations for Broomhilda’s freedom reach a mutually-agreeable conclusion, Candie’s loyal slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) realises that Django and Broomhilda mean more to each other than either have let on, and the price for her freedom becomes almost insurmountable.

Built on impossibly high stakes and played in a perfectly-matched style, Tarantino’s vision has been well-served by his brilliant cast who are all at the very top of their games. DiCaprio and Jackson both shed whatever previous association we may have had with them as actors like skin and escort their characters to extreme levels of perversity – with Jackson’s scenes with a shackled, strung upside-down Foxx among the film’s most challenging. Waltz (in a companion piece to his memorable performance in Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds) is mesmerising as Schultz – whose fascinating journey through the film is the one that captures our imagination and refuses to let us go unmoved.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad. Rated MA 15+ (strong violence and coarse language). 113  minutes. Directed by Ruben Fleischer. Screenplay by Will Beall. Based on the novel by Paul Lieberman.

Verdict: Gangsters by the numbers eventually suffers from a serious case of bullet fatigue.

When the ruthless mobster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) decides to make Los Angeles his base, a squad of undercover operatives, led by Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin), are given permission by the city’s Chief of Police (Nick Nolte) to bring Cohen’s burgeoning reign of terror to end by whatever means are necessary.

Plagued by the killings inside a Colorado movie theatre and the more recent slaying of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Connecticut, it is difficult to know how to begin to appreciate a film that purports to be nothing more than a monumental shoot-em-up extravaganza.

Quite apart from the bullet-induced fatigue that sets in about half way through this mercilessly violent gun fest, Gangster Squad’s artful, film noir pretensions are short-changed by Fleischer and Beall’s steadfast determination to provide nothing even remotely new or particularly interesting to the celebrated ‘gangster movie’ genre. The granddaddy of them all – The Godfather (1972) – casts a long, vastly superior shadow over every attempt to make an involving gangster flick, and this film’s over-reliance on weaponry galore as opposed to any kind of meaningful character development, results in a less-than-satisfying experience.

What is impressive, however, is production designer Maher Ahmad’s glorious recreation of Los Angeles in the 1940s, Mary Zophres’s (True Grit, Iron Man 2, A Serious Man) perfect costumes, and the work of Australian-born cinematographer Dion Beebe’s (Green Lantern, Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago) who captures the evocative, richly-illuminated world in which the story unfolds perfectly.

Buried deep within all the gun-toting are some interesting performances – particularly from Emma Stone as the wanna-be actress trapped in Cohen’s vicious world, and Mireille Enos as O’Mara’s pregnant wife Connie who helps her husband put ‘the squad’ together with a wonderful lightness of touch. From the first scene, an over made-up Penn sails well over the top and stays there, while Brolin and the rest of the squad (including Ryan Gosling) all end up being little more than stylish, well-meaning and equally well-dressed caricatures.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Hitchcock

Hitchcock. Rated M (mature themes). 99 minutes. Directed by Sacha Gervasi. Screenplay by John J. McLaughlin. Based on the book by Stephen Rebello.

Verdict: The perfectly-matched star power of Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren (pictured) brings Hitchcock home in style.

Inspired by the heinous crimes of Ed Gein, Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel Psycho would become one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most memorable films. Courtesy of the famous ‘shower scene’, Psycho (1960) would not only become one of the most instantly recognisable films in cinema history, it would also set a revolutionary benchmark for films of the horror genre.

Basking in the success of his North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) is carefully considering his next project. While his devoted wife and co-conspirator Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) suggests he consider a script from an admirer Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston), Hitchcock instead decides that his next project will be Psycho. Demanding that his loyal production assistant Peggy Robertson (Toni Collette) buy every copy of the book so the plot will remain a secret, Hitchcock begins a project that will challenge not only his own self-belief, but also the loyalties of those that are closest and most important to him.

In an outstanding feature film debut, Gervasi wisely surrounds himself with an exceptional cast and crew who deliver McLaughlin’s (Black Swan) meticulously-observed screenplay to the screen with immense skill. Hopkins and Mirren are superb, and the greatest pleasure of this film is the opportunity to watch these two fine actors matching wits, blow for blow, on the big screen. Collette excels as the dutiful Peggy, ensuring that Ms Robertson (like Alma) is seen to have been worth considerably more to the cantankerous Hitchcock than history might otherwise have afforded her.

Stylistically, the film is a triumph, with Production Designer Judy Becker (Silver Linings Playbook, Ruby Sparks, The Fighter, Brokeback Mountain) perfectly capturing the very essence of the era, superbly photographed by Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

While it doesn’t pretend to be the definitive biopic of the infamous Alfred Hitchcock, Hitchcock is certainly a candid, no-holds-barred excursion into a compelling chapter in the life of one the most important and independently-minded directors in the history of cinema.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.

Departures: Academy Award®-winners announced for 2013 National Screenwriters Conference

The Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG) today announced their second round of world-class speakers for the biennial National Screenwriters Conference, which will take place at Mornington Peninsula in Victoria from 20–22 February 2013.

Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Tom Schulman (Best Screenplay for Dead Poets Society and writer of What About Bob?, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Medicine Man and Holy Man) and Academy Award®-winning producer Emile Sherman (Best Motion Picture for The King's Speech and producer of BAFTA-nominated Shame, Oranges and Sunshine, Candy and Dead Europe) will join Shameless creator Paul Abbott, announced as international headliner last year, and a host of industry elite including the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Shine (Best Screenplay, Jan Sardi) and writers of Oscar-winning films Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Happy Feet (John Collee), The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliott), and Moulin Rouge! (Craig Pearce).

‘This year’s National Screenwriters Conference line-up proves worthy of the two-year wait, bringing an embarrassment of riches to Victoria. We’re very excited to assemble such an extravagant number of high calibre speakers to inspire and share their expertise in the art of storytelling,’ says AWG President and conference panelist Jan Sardi.

Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson (The Sapphires) and Kris Wyld (Dangerous Remedy) will speak about adapting fact into fiction, Rick Kalowski (At Home with Julia, Comedy Inc) hosts a session on how NOT to write a sitcom, Michael Cordell (Go Back to Where You Came From) examines how to craft compelling factual television, and Andrew Knight (Rake, Jack Irish) and Debra Oswald (Offspring) will look at the rise of comedic drama. Other sessions cover topics such as love, crime, animation, horror and sci-fi.

Industry guests include Mike Cowap (Screen Australia), Antony I. Ginnane (IFM World Releasing/F G Film Productions), Greg Haddrick (Screentime), Tarni James (ABC) and Linda Klejus (Circa Media).

Registrations close in less than a month on 4 February, and full conference registrations are close to selling out. Day registrations are another popular option for accessing specific sessions and speakers.

The National Screenwriters Conference is a must-attend event for writers and industry practitioners in film, television, gaming and new media. It allows unparalleled access to over 50 leading local and international screenwriters and industry professionals. Masterclasses, mentorships, panel discussions and informal gatherings offer opportunities to develop ongoing creative partnerships and concrete career prospects.

Further information, including the full list of speakers and conference program, can be found here.

Film Review: Life of Pi

Life of Pi. Rated PG (mild survival themes). 127 minutes. Directed by Ang Lee. Screenplay by David Magee. Based on the novel by Yann Martel.

Verdict: A curiously uneven but visually ravishing adventure.

As a spiritually uplifting rumination on the undeniable existence of an almighty creator, Life of Pi delivers a good many pleasures. At its core is the unlikely friendship between a young man, Pi (an extraordinary debut from Suraj Sharma), and a tiger named Richard Parker (the CGI creation of visual effects company Rhythm and Hues) who find themselves adrift in a lifeboat after the ship on which they are travelling is lost at sea during a fierce storm. As the two survivors learn to co-exist, the bountiful and perilous wonders of the ocean are revealed in sequences of ravishing visual splendour, flawlessly photographed by cinematographer Claudio Miranda (Fight Club, TRON: Legacy, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

If Magee’s (Finding Neverland) screenplay takes a little too long to set sail, the flashback sequences – as the adult Pi (Irrfan Khan) recounts his tale for the benefit of a curious writer (Rafe Spall) – have a surprisingly soul-less quality to them. It’s almost as though Pi only survived a particularly gruelling trip to the supermarket as opposed to the terrifying ordeal of 227 days at sea with only a ravenous tiger for company. It’s the unevenness of the present day sequences when compared to the fantastic main game that lends the film an occasionally jarring lack of cohesion.

Book-ending the astonishing survival sequences that have long been considered un-filmable was never going to be easy, but Lee’s (The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain) patient study of the developing friendship between Pi and the tiger on the high seas is engrossing. The sequence where Richard Parker leaps overboard in search of prey and struggles to get back into the lifeboat, clinging to it with his claws through the night, is deeply moving – and the full screen close-up of the desperate tiger’s face staring up at his potential human saviour is the shot of the film.

Like Martel’s award-winning novel, the film will inspire many conversations about its true meaning and significance. If the novel’s famous conclusion that questions the authenticity of Pi’s tale is a little too neatly accounted for, there is little doubt that this extraordinarily beautiful film (and one that should really be seen in 3D) will linger in your memory for a long time after you have experienced it.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.