Showing posts with label Helen Mirren. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Helen Mirren. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
The Hundred-Foot Journey (PG)
THE WAY to many people's hearts is through the stomach, with a well-prepared meal bringing meaning and satisfaction. It is a survival instinct at its most basic, providing comfort and even a sense of understanding. It's no wonder that Lasse Hallstrom has returned to a theme he became well known for 14 years ago with the release of Chocolat, which combined a story of small town charm and the sensuality of blossoming romance.
Those three elements are echoed in The Hundred-Foot Journey. Hallstrom returns to countryside France, where the grass is beautiful and the buildings are rustic. It's no wonder Papa (Om Puri), Hassan (Manish Dayal) and the rest of the Kadam family want to stick around when the brakes on their car fail and force a delay to their travels.
Lessons about taking a chance and stepping up to a challenge present themselves pretty early as we learn about the tragic circumstances that led to the family leaving their Indian homeland for the pastures of Europe. As they arrive at their new-found home, social and moral themes of acceptance into a society and acceptance for change make their presence known.
It's not new territory for Hallstrom by any means as he lets natural light and the surrounding landscape to do much of the talking. But there is a story in there somewhere, telling us of Hassan's dream for success as a professional chef and his interest in town local Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon).
There is a typical rivalry to make their transition to French life difficult, as they set a family restaurant up across from a Michelin Star-awarded restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren). Their rivalry brings a not-so-fun war about, although made comical for the audience's benefit. Marguerite and Madame Mallory make for two headstrong women – but their desire for change is minimal. In a role reversal to films of this sort, it is the men who are looking to bring something new to the community and present new gastronomical adventures.
Hallstrom's focus on food throughout the story is sumptuous as Hassan learns the tricks of the trade from his family, but later becomes bland as he steps away from the type of cooking he knows and loves. It changes as the story does, which traverses an extended period of Hassan's career. Things are left to get a bit tiresome ahead of the ending, the mood of the film becoming a dampener as you watch their lives unfold some more. It's not helped by an unnecessarily long running time.
While designed to pull at the heartstrings, the laughs are minimal. Although there is something to be said for the efforts of Puri, Mirren and the charismatic Dayal, there isn't enough to lift the story to anything more than a simple tale of accepting what life brings. As that's something audiences already know well about, the well-used themes of this story come with a less fresh perspective.
Rating: 2.5/5
MISSED LAST WEEK'S REVIEW? See what I thought of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Hitchcock (M)
AS anyone in the film industry could tell you, when films
are made about someone’s personal story on any level is when they are truly
revered by peers and fans alike. That, or there’s some morbid curiosity the
public has with them. For Englishman Alfred Hitchcock it’s a mix of both, as
the man known for his difficult nature and unrelenting persistence remains the
master of suspense to this very day.
What many didn’t know for a long time was the extent of influence
from the great director’s wife on his features. Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony
Hopkins) and Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) were a duo connected by a great love
of intelligence, direction and a good story. When he looked for a project she
would bring up suggestions, and when he went against the grain of everyone
banking on the success of his work she was right by his side.
Psycho was the
risk of Hitchcock’s career. His desire to adapt a book so violent horrified
Paramount Pictures, but his standing in the industry made for worthy persuasion.
What became most important to him during the process is rightfully highlighted
as the most intriguing element and would arguably become cinema’s greatest
scene.
Finding Janet Leigh (Scarlett Johansson) was a triumph, but
to Alma it was something of a case she couldn’t win; another Hitchcock blonde
she saw her husband lust after. But what audiences wouldn’t know is that Alma
had her own episode of potential adultery with friend and former colleague
Whitfield Cook (Danny Huston). It is these circumstances that threw Hitchcock
into a state beyond any previous form of frustration professionally and
personally.
John J McLaughlin’s screenplay, based on Stephen Rebello book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of 'Psycho', plays out like a Hitchcock film by pushing the boundaries. Gervasi goes with an unconventional use of breaking the fourth wall at the film’s bookends to not question the gravitas of the legend and the man, but to acknowledge he was in fact achingly real.
Scenes showing Hitchcock observing and interacting with
criminal Ed Gein, on which Psycho was
based, suggests the director himself wasn’t
so sure of his own reality. His imagination would take him to a troubled place
as he immersed himself onto the project; a self-financed one at that. It was
more than just his reputation that could fall.
Director Sacha Gervasi’s first feature film comes four years
after brilliant 2008 music documentary Anvil:
The Story of Anvil. He films Hopkins and Mirren with ease although the two
are strained in their relationship as hidden secrets are kept from one another.
With a cast also including Jessica Biel and Toni Collette,
there is another reflection of Hitchcock’s desire for the best and nothing
less. But the focus on the film shoot
remains largely in the shadow of the personal story at hand, which for fans of
Hitchcock’s work will come as a slight disappointment.
Hitchcock was a man not only driven by work, but also by
love and rediscovering what that meant during Psycho. The morbid fascination Hollywood still has with this man
continues with good reason – in life and death he kept us guessing.
Rating: 3/5
*Published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 12/1/2013
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Diner (1982)
PROGRESSION from young adulthood to the kind with real responsibility (you know, marriage and babies) is a fact of life, but not all see it that way. Many choose to stay in their own worlds, staunchly of the opinion married life means all hope is gone for a youthful existence.
That idea scares the hell out of six guys in 1959 that reunite in Baltimore for a New Year’s Eve wedding. Eddie (Steve Guttenberg) is unsure of his coming nuptials, but can’t really seek advice from Shrevie (Daniel Stern) - the only one married so far. Shrevie has his own problems with wife Beth (Ellen Barkin), something to come to the attention of gambler student Boogie (Mickey Rourke). Then there’s funnyman Modell (Paul Reiser), likely alcoholic Fenwick (Kevin Bacon) and confused Billy (Timothy Daly).
As the film that launched many of the cast’s careers, its wisecracks are the backbone of the film. They play out through a series of vignettes, disjointed so as to chronicle only the important elements of the week they spend together. The diner at the centre is critical to their wellbeing where they can speak freely and attempt to stay within their bubble.
Eddie’s fiancé is a notable absentee from the story, but for Barry Levinson it works to leave the focus solely on the guys. That makes for some immaturity from them as they get up to laughable antics, but also for memorable comedy in this nostalgic look at the turn of a decade.
*Published in the Mailbox Shopper (Dubbo) on Wednesday 9/1/2013.
MISSED LAST WEEK'S REVIEW? See what I thought of Jack Reacher.
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