Author: Kate Larkindale

Review: ‘The Past’

Posted by | Mar 14, 2014 |

If A Separation was Asghar Farhdi’s breakthrough film, The Past surpasses it in great style. From the very first scene where a woman picks up her ex-husband at the airport in a borrowed car, we know we’re in the hands of a master filmmaker. Even the opening title that continues the motif of windscreen wipers from the pre-credits scene is pitch perfect in the context. Essentially a love triangle, the film takes place over a few days after Marie has asked Ahmad, her ex-husband, to return to Paris from Tehran to sign the divorce papers. It’s been four years since he left and she wants to end the relationship on a good note – a civilised one. And Ahmad himself wants to say a proper goodbye to Marie’s children from an earlier relationship, who he once lived with and was very close to. Ahmad’s discomfort first rears its head when he discovers that Marie expects him to stay not in a hotel but in her poky, chaotic flat – where he must rub shoulders with Samir, her new man – an already strained relationship. When Ahmad discovers why, it sends shockwaves through Marie’s family that apologies won’t repair. Beautifully acted and set against the colourful reality of a multi-cultural Parisian suburb, The Past will grab your heart and won’t let go. There’s comedy, melodrama and tenderness, all perfectly balanced to make a richly textured and multi-layered film – but...

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Review: ‘The Monuments Men’

Posted by | Mar 13, 2014 |

I don’t think I’ve ever described a WWII movie as breezy before, but if ever there was a breezy war movie, this is it. Based on true events during WWII, George Clooney heads an ensemble cast that’s less Oceans 11 and more The Dirty Dozen – or in this case, “The Dirty Half-Dozen”. It’s a fascinating premise: during the war, Hitler had the grand idea of building a massive ‘Fuhrer Museum’ as a place to display the greatest works of art in the world. To fill the space, he sent troops to scavenge every significant artwork as they swept across Europe. Upon hearing of this wholesale theft, a group of middle-aged art curators were given the task of recovering the stolen art and returning it to the rightful owners. As presented by Clooney, this was the greatest treasure hunt of all time and the performers attack their mission as if it is all a jolly jape and no one will get hurt. But of course war is hell, and the summer camp atmosphere fades as the realities of the danger they’re in hits home. This is a solid film, rarely dull, but rarely exciting enough to elicit even a muffled gasp. Clooney obviously has enormous admiration and respect for the real life Monuments Men, but respect does not make for an engaging film.  With a large and diverse cast it’s hard to...

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Review: ‘Stories We Tell’

Posted by | Mar 10, 2014 |

I’ve been a huge fan of Sarah Polley’s ever since I first saw her luminous presence in Atom Egoyan’s films of the late 1990s. Since then she has become a writer and director to be reckoned with and this touching, personal documentary shows her growth and maturity as a filmmaker. The subject of this documentary is Sarah’s mother, the sometimes-actress Diane Polley. Diane died of cancer when Sarah, the youngest of a brood of siblings, was just eleven. Through interviews with her father and siblings, family friends and fellow actors, Polley assembles a portrait of her mother. Her father also reads from a poignant memoir he wrote about the marriage, and is a surprisingly good sport when it comes to taking direction from his daughter. As Polley deeper into her subject, revelations come to light that would knock another filmmaker for a loop and possibly even discourage them from completing the project. But she doesn’t abandon her film, and the result is a fascinating portrait of a capricious woman. More importantly though, it is a treatise on the subjectivity of memory. While this is a very personal film, the actress never takes centre stage. The film is firmly about Diane and the role she plays in the memories and narratives of other people’s lives. And just how different these stories are is startling. Never before has the fallibility of memory been so ably evoked on...

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Review: ‘Dallas Buyer’s Club’

Posted by | Feb 26, 2014 |

Based on a true story, Dallas Buyers Club is a stunningly good film featuring outstanding performances from both Matthew McConoughey and Jared Leto. McConaughey plays redneck electrician Ron Woodroof. He’s a pretty contemptible human being, a heavy drinking, drug snorting, womanising rodeo rider whose homophobia runs deep. When he learns he’s contracted HIV and probably has only 30 days to live, he’s willing to do whatever he can to survive. He discovers AZT is the only drug that might give him a few more months, but can’t get into a clinical trial. So he pays a hospital employee to steal it for him. But the drug doesn’t help as much as he hoped, and he starts looking for other options. Woodroof begins obsessively researching medications and suppliers and starts bringing large quantities of medicine into the country. Medicine which he distributes to other HIV sufferers… for a fee. Helping him in this mission is a transvestite druggie, Rayon. It may seem like an unlikely partnership given Woodroof’s attitude to gays, but he needs her contacts in the community. And soon their relationship is much more than just a convenient business one. As Rayon, Jared Leto is incredible, seizing the film’s emotional core and making it his own. But it’s McConoughey’s brash, swaggering, emaciated Woodroof that will stick in your mind long after you leave the theatre. It’s difficult to remember...

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Review: ‘Blue Is The Warmest Colour’

Posted by | Feb 19, 2014 |

Winner of the 2013 Palme d’Or, Blue is The Warmest Color is a minutely detailed and brazenly original study of first love. While nothing about its storyline is wholly original, the way it is presented onscreen is so extraordinary that many critics have mourned its three hour length – they could have watched for far longer. Loosely based on a graphic novel by Julie Maroh, the film follows Adele, a young girl whose hunger for life, knowledge, and experiences is vividly shown by the voracious way she reads and the way she tears into her father’s spaghetti at dinner. She starts the film as a precocious high-schooler and finishes the film as a grown woman, albeit one who still has a lot to learn. Adele is fifteen when she realises she’s not happy with the guys she’s dating. She can’t get the girl with the blue hair out of her head, despite the fact their sole encounter was fleeting. When they meet again, love blossoms quickly and leads to the steamy sex scenes that have made the film so controversial. While the older and more sophisticated Emma accepts her new sexual identity gladly, Adele never fully gives into it. She keeps it a secret, even when the pair are living together years later. The performances in this film are stunning. Raw emotion spills from the screen, and the fragility...

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