NZIFF Film Review: "To the Wonder" (2012).

From the director of The Tree of Life comes To the Wonder. This experimental romantic drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick. Neil reconnects with a childhood sweetheart after problems arise in his relationship with the Frenchwoman he brought home to Oklahoma with him.

As with The Tree of Life, the film's conception and plot stem from autobiographical elements: Malick met his second wife Michèle Morette in Paris in the early 1980s, and the couple lived in Oklahoma for a period prior to their separation. By March 2011, Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in May. Filming took place in Paris and Manche, France, as well as Bartlesville, Pawhuska, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Malick and his crew adopted an experimental approach. There was no script that was used during filming. Malick would give the actors pages of thoughts and independent lines every morning and he would ask them to play the emotions without speaking, just with their body. Kurylenko described the shooting process as more like a dance performance than traditional acting. Likewise, cinematographer on the film, Emmanuel Lubezki, was given instructions to be "in the eye of the hurricane" — in the middle of a scene, constantly interacting with the characters. Lubezki called the film "abstract", and described it as being less tied to theatrical conventions and more purely cinematic than any prior film directed by Malick. Malick handed out works of literature to his editing team for inspiration, such as Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Walker Percy's The Moviegoer. Also referenced to his editors was a phrase found in Margaret A. Doody’s introduction to Samuel Richardson’s 1740 novel Pamela. The phrase "radiant zigzag becoming", became an unofficial motto for the film's editing team during post-production. Also referenced during the editing of the film were the French New Wave films Jules and Jim by Truffaut and Godard's Breathless, Pierrot le Fou, and Vivre Sa Vie. They were chosen for their elliptical narrative and editing styles which Malick hoped his editing team would embrace.

The film stars Affleck, Kurylenko, McAdams, and Bardem. The cast and their performances are slightly disappointing. Their voiceovers only offers empty platitudes and their characters are human and endearing but ultimately quite boring.

As visually sumptuous as it is narratively spartan, Malick's To the Wonder echoes elements of the writer-director's recent work - for better and for worse. The film was rather incoherent, disconnected, self-interrupting, obsessed with pointless minutiae and crammed full of odd, limp stabs at profundity. You’ll find yourself searching in the margins of each shot for something or someone tangible to grasp onto. I don't believe that the Austin-based filmmaker has ever made a bad, but it is the first Malick film I’ve watched where the dots never came together to form a legible image. Compared to Malick's body of work, the film suffers from the lack of rhetorical connective tissue that would further connect to Malick's themes as well as better characterizations, due to the film's highly chaotic nature.

Simon says To the Wonder receives:

Also, see my reviews for The Tree of Life and The Cameraman.

Film Review: "Pain & Gain" (2013).

"Their American Dream Is Bigger Than Yours" This is the sad truth with Pain & Gain. This comedy crime film directed by Michael Bay and written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely. The film is loosely based on a story Pete Collins published in a 1999 series of Miami New Times articles and compiled in the book Pain & Gain: This is a True Story, which details the kidnapping, extortion, torture, and murder of several victims by an organized group of criminals comprising bodybuilders affiliated with the Sun Gym.

Bay had been wanting to make this film since 2000. But first announced the film after the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). However, He delayed doing so multiple times in favor of the Transformers sequels. He specifically said he wanted to make a small inexpensive film as a change of pace. Bay stated he wanted to do Pain & Gain between the second and third Transformers films. The project was put on hold when Paramount gave the third film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, a 2011 release date. Bay became interested in the project due to the fact that the home of Frank Griga belongs to Bay. It is also the former Miami home of Hulk Hogan. In February 2012, it was confirmed that the budget for the film would be $26 million and was to be funded by Paramount Pictures as part of a two-picture deal with Bay, making it the cheapest film he has ever directed, since his first feature film Bad Boys (1995), thanks in part to Bay, Johnson, and Wahlberg not taking salaries. They instead signed on in exchange for back ends on the film's profits.

The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rebel Wilson and Ken Jeong. The cast were hopeless from start to finish. They themselves filled with nothing but "manly" silliness and just pure Michael Bay testosterone that is a hallmark of all his films. The only commitment that the actors have made to their on-screen counterparts was to bulk up to hulking masses. For his role as a body builder, Wahlberg bulked up to 212 pounds for this film. Wahlberg was in the process of trying out supplements for his own line of body-building products while bulking up for his movie. So he said he effectively got a body-builder physique by using his own products. Bay also wanted Mark Wahlberg to be as tan as possible. So Wahlberg, throughout filming, had to get a full-body fake tan every week for the movie. Mark Wahlberg said that his sons loved the enormous, muscular, body-builder physique that he was sporting during filming, but his daughters hated it. Johnson bulked up to nearly 300 pounds for his role. Anthony Mackie put on 17 pounds of muscle for the role and bulked up to 213 pounds. He had only 3 weeks to train before filming began.

The film may star Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, and may be directed by Michael Bay; unfortunately, both leads are just nothing but new wine in old bottles. And director Bay too often drowns it out with set pieces and mindless Americana in place of an actual story. Whenever a movie like this starts to drag, there's always one infallible solution; have mindless action and then have good-looking people to distract the audience.

Simon says Pain & Gain receives:

Also, see my review for Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Film Review: "Only God Forgives" (2013).

The film’s tagline reads "Time to Meet The Devil", which is what Only God Forgives is all bout. This French-Danish co-production crime thriller film written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. The film follows ten years later after Julian killed a man and went on the run. Now Julian, a drug-smuggler and manages a Thai boxing club in Bangkok's criminal underworld, deep inside, he feels empty. But then sees his life get even more complicated when his brother murders an underage prostitute, the police call on retired cop Chang - the Angel of Vengeance. Also his mother, Crystal - the head of a powerful criminal organization, arrives in Bangkok to collect her son's body and dispatches Julian to find and kill his killers and 'raise hell'.

The film stars Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm and, introducing, Rhatha Phongam (Yaya-Ying) in her first major English language film. The performances in this film were somewhat poorly acted, as well as lacked general common sense and good characterization. Gosling's performance was intense but was filled with unnecessary moral and character-based ambiguities. Scott Thomas was just absolutely depressing and dull. Her character was not the least bit interesting nor was she empathetic. Pansringarm's performance was also intense and dangerously silent as Gosling's performance. But it lacked the general characterization that was needed for the villain and his motivations. Lastly, Phongma's performance was absolutely unnecessary and pointless. She was a supporting character that had the least amount of lines, lacked the most amount of basic general characterization and the most amount of common sense. I felt she was 'all-show' for the men to come into the theaters. Especially in her sexually explicit scenes (including her scene when she had to abruptly and randomly strip in front of Gosling's character).

Rather in the manner of Alejandro Jodorowsky, whose self-conscious conflation of the roles of charlatan and ringmaster of the unconscious Refn apes, Only God Forgives is a breathtaking concoction of often striking, but more often ludicrous, images. The result is a movie that, though it impressed some, in retrospect is clearly a minor, albeit often very confusing work. There's not enough art to justify the sickening reality of Refn's artistic method. The meaning of the film is not to be found in the mystical camouflage of the ambiguous and stoic nature (for what, one wonders? Evidently self-agrandizement rather than the well-being of his congregation of the deformed), but in the picturesque horrors and humiliations. They're all there, in a movie that is all guts (quite literally) but that has no body to give the guts particular shape or function. Under the influence, the film becomes a violent, would-be erotic freakshow, and that, I suppose, can be very heavy. For others, it is enough to make one yawn. However, on first blush it might seem no more than a violent surreal fantasy, a work of fabulous but probably deranged imagination. Surreal and crazy it may be, but it is also (one realizes the second time through) as fully considered and ordered as fine clockwork.

Simon says Only God Forgives receives:

NZIFF Classic Film Review: "The Cameraman" (1928).

"Buster has a camera, but what he doesn't know about it would make even the little birdie laugh!" This is The Cameraman. This 1928 American silent comedy film directed by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton, who was uncredited. In this silent classic, photographer Buster meets Sally, who works as a secretary for the newsreel department at MGM, and falls hard. Trying to win her attention, Buster abandons photography in order to become a news cameraman. In spite of his early failures with a motion camera, Sally takes to him as well. However, veteran cameraman Stagg also fancies Sally, meaning Buster will need to learn how to film quickly before he loses his job.

In late January 1928, Keaton signed a two-year deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The deal required two films per year from Keaton and paid him $3,000 a week, making him the third highest-paid actor at the studio. Keaton brought most of his own crew with him from his own independent production company. He immediately pitched the idea for The Cameraman to MGM, who paid him $1,250 for it.  According to Keaton, twenty-two writers were assigned to work on the script before and during production, but Keaton convinced MGM's head of production Irving Thalberg to throw out the script and allow him to film it his own way. On his previous films, only three or four gag writers were the norm. MGM countered that only five writers had worked on the film. The film was then overseen by producer Lawrence Weingarten. Weingarten and Keaton fought on set and Weingarten called Keaton a child. According to Rudi Blesh's biography of Keaton, he came on the set the first day of shooting and, unaware of his reduced status as actor-only, began to "feel" for comedy bits and request props and characters, as he had with his own company. Sedgwick took him aside and told Keaton that he was undermining his directorial authority. Buster genuinely apologized and faded into the background. Sedgwick couldn't get the set-ups he wanted, couldn't get the actors to understand his direction, and eventually gave up and asked Buster to take over. As quietly as he had left, Buster regained control of the scene. Buster began to call Sedgwick "Junior" and they became fast friends. Thalberg loved the finished film and laughed during screenings of its rushes, a rare display of emotion from Thalberg. However, at the studio's insistence, Keaton's original ending with him smiling was replaced with the current ending after it received negative reactions when it was previewed. Keaton was accustomed to complete control over his own productions and was unaccustomed to interference from producers. MGM would take away Keaton's creative control over his pictures, thereby causing drastic and long-lasting harm to his career. Keaton was later to call the move to MGM "the worst mistake of my life." This film was used for many years by MGM as an example of a perfect comedy. The studio would get all its directors and producers to watch it and learn. Only two scenes were improvised on the spot by Keaton. The Cameraman would later serve as inspiration for part of the 1950 comedy Watch the Birdie, starring Red Skelton, with Keaton working as a gagman for MGM and serving as an advisor to Skelton. The film was almost lost forever. The master copy of it used today was made using a print that was found in Paris, in 1968, and a master positive copy of nearly the entire film, found in 1991. In modern copies of the film, the quality of the image varies dramatically; the scenes with best quality were obtained from the material found in 1991. It is now considered to be Keaton still in top form by fans and critics alike, and it was added to the National Film Registry in 2005 as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." It is also included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.

The picture stars Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin, Sidney Bracey, and Harry Gribbon. With very little words obviously, the cast gave remarkable and mind-blowing performances, especially from Keaton, who were able to convey so much through their faces and bodies, especially for Keaton. The featured gags are as much artful exercises in stuntwork and timing as they are orchestrated attempts at humor, and the fact that they work so well as both is testament to Keaton's brilliance as a filmmaker and performer. Keaton has great sight gags and goes to amazing ends to get the thrills he wants. In these times when all risk is assumed by CGI effects, Keaton's squealing funny, exquisitely timed, death-defying leaps are all the more breathtaking. There was only one Buster Keaton, and this film is his swansong.

Not just one of the greatest films of the silent period, but of all time, and arguably the greatest comedy ever made. The Cameraman explores man's tumultuous relationship with technology through the propulsive images and rushing emotion available only to the advents of cinema. The film boasts the most sustained passages of virtuoso slapstick genius Keaton ever shot, and an unflagging momentum that lets it get away with being a reel longer than most of his best-known pictures. It is the highlight of his career's tragicomic performances, featuring not just the awe-inspiring stunts that were his bread and butter, but also a level of fluidity only he and Chaplin attained at the top of their games. Spectacular performances, whether dramatic, comedic and/or stunt-wise, are captured with fluid camerawork. There are no stunt doubles for Keaton and of course no digital effects. A jaw-plunging blend of physical dexterity and bravura moviemaking. A thrilling and hilarious comedy. Among the finest comedies of all time, it wears its greatness lightly, and one of Keaton's most hilarious and most popular comedies. This is a silent film worth making a noise about. A Silent masterpiece is entertainment for all ages.

Simon says The Cameraman receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for The Dance of Reality (La Danza de la Realidad).

NZIFF Film Review: "The Dance of Reality" ("La Danza de la Realidad") (2013).

From the director of El Topo and The Holy Mountain comes The Dance of Reality (La Danza de la Realidad). This Chilean-French semi-autobiographical musical fantasy drama film written, produced, and directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky presents a fanciful interpretation of his childhood, set against Chile's turbulent social and political environment.

The film marks Jorodowsky's first film in twenty-three years. In early 2011, Jodorowsky scouted for locations at his childhood village in Chile. Jodorowsky received permission from the local Chilean government to shoot in the coming spring. In late August, he held a forum with the locals to discuss his vision for the film. By June 2012, Jodorowsky, as well as his sons Brontis, Adán, and Cristóbal, grandson Jeremías Herskovits, Pamela Flores, Bastián Bodenhöfer, and Andrés Cox were cast. At the same time, with a budget of $3 million, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in August 2013. Filming took place in Tocopilla in the Antofagasta Region, in the north of Chile. The film was shot digitally, on the Red Epic camera with Angenieux Optimo Lenses, the first for Jodorowsky. In January 2013, Brontis stated that the film was in post-production and would be finished by March, saying the film is "very different from the other films that he made". The film blends Jodorowsky's personal history with metaphor, mythology and poetry, reflecting the director's view that reality is not objective but rather a "dance" created by our imaginations. Jodorowsky has expressed his ambivalence towards the film industry and its focus on making money and claimed he did not want to "make money but rather lose money" in the making of this film, asking for it to be funded purely through donations.

The film stars Jodorowsky, as well as his sons Brontis, Adán, and Cristóbal, grandson Jeremías Herskovits, Pamela Flores, Bastián Bodenhöfer, and Andrés Cox. The cast has ample affection for outcasts and much to say about religious hypocrisy. A surreal circus of invention, pretension and astonishment that, like many carnivals, touts the talents of its performers but knows most customers came to gawk at the freaks.

While it's not especially easy viewing, and unquestionably not for all tastes, The Dance of Reality is exhilarating, challenging, enigmatic and distressing, but entirely rewarding and entertaining. Whether or not this is the most accessible of Jodorowsky's films, it is certainly the most accessible "Jodorowksy film," a vision filled with circus imagery, surreal scenes, and grotesque violence. Drawing on his training in mime and his fascination with Gnosticism, Jodorowsky converted a story about his early life into a grand work of art, full of symbols and imagery that reach beyond language to something primal and original. What's probably most amazing about the film is that most of it works, and almost never does it feel like it's being unsettling just for the sake of it. A trip that was calculated carefully, the near constant use of slightly off-key circus music adding to its hypnotic quality. More extravagant, but less controlled than his infamous allegorical western, El Topo (1970).

Simon says The Dance of Reality (La Danza de la Realidad) receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Much Ado About Nothing.

NZIFF Film Review: "Much Ado About Nothing" (2012).

"An awful lot of fun", which is what you’re in for with Much Ado About Nothing. This independent romantic comedy film adapted for the screen, produced, and directed by Joss Whedon, from William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy.

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedic play by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599, as Shakespeare was approaching the middle of his career. The play was included in the First Folio, published in 1623. Much Ado About Nothing is generally considered one of Shakespeare’s best comedies, because it combines elements of robust hilarity with more serious meditations on honor, shame, and court politics. Much Ado About Nothing, though interspersed with darker concerns, is a joyful comedy that ends with multiple marriages and no deaths.

Principal photography started mid-October 2011, and took place at Joss Whedon's residence, in Santa Monica, California. On the choice of location, he told Studio 360, "First of all, my wife built that house. And I knew from the moment I set foot in it that I would want to film something there. Because it's all in one place, that place informs the mood and the feeling and the look of the picture so much, and I was really already comfortable with that". It was filmed entirely in a black-and-white palette over a period of 12 days. Whedon shot it while on a contractual vacation from the post-production of The Avengers (2012). The cast and crew were informed to keep the project a secret until production was finished. Shooting wrapped on October 23, 2011. Whedon explained his initial interest in the project, saying: I fixated on this notion that our ideas of romantic love are created for us by the society around us, and then escape from that is grown-up love, is marriage, is mature love, to escape the ideals of love that we’re supposed to follow. He elaborated on that sentiment, and said "It’s a very cynically romantic text about love, and how we behave, and how we’re expected to behave. It’s a party, but there’s something darker there as well".

The film stars Amy Acker as Beatrice, Alexis Denisof as Benedick, Nathan Fillion as Dogberry, Clark Gregg as Leonato, Reed Diamond as Don Pedro, Fran Kranz as Claudio, Sean Maher as Don John, Jillian Morgese as Hero, Spencer Treat Clark as Borachio, Riki Lindhome as Conrade and Ashley Johnson as Margaret. The performances were fantastic in this film and Whedon's finest collection of performances yet. They had the right mix of drama and comedy all at once. Acker gave a strong performance as Beatrice. Denisof gave a witty and 'cocky' performance as Benedick. Fillion gave a humorous performance. Gregg gave a great performance as Leonato. Diamond gave a great performance as Don Pedro. Kranz gave a emotionally fantastic performance as Claudio. Maher gave a great, cold performance as Don John. Finally, Morgese gave a wonderful performance, in her debut film.

Cheerful from beginning to end, Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing is a ravishing piece of entertainment. Whedon has, once again, blown away the movie-going public after his triumphant success of The Avengers (2012). This film cements Whedon's status as a great director of Shakespeare, and perhaps of film in general, as well.

Simon says Much Ado About Nothing receives:

Also, see my reviews for The Avengers and I'm So Excited (Los amantes pasajeros).

NZIFF Film Review: "I'm So Excited!" ("Los amantes pasajeros") (2013).

From the director of All About My Mother and The Skin I Live In comes I'm So Excited! (Los amantes pasajeros). This Spanish comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. A Spanish flight headed for Mexico runs into technical difficulties. The crew decide to drug everyone in economy class and devote themselves to cheering up the small group of passengers in business class, and themselves, by all available means.

With a budget of €5 million, the film was financed entirely by pre-sales. By early July 2012, Javier Cámara, Antonio de la Torre, Raúl Arévalo, Carlos Areces, Lola Dueñas, Cecilia Roth, Blanca Suárez, with Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, and Paz Vega were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in early September. Filming took pace at the decommissioned Ciudad Real Central Airport in Madrid, as well as Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

The film stars Cámara, de la Torre, Arévalo, Areces, Dueñas, Roth, Suárez, with Banderas, Cruz, and Vega. The film is playful fun thanks to the ensemble cast who delivered. All the actors were superb and gave superb performances. The cast slinks devilishly (and expertly) between farce, absurdism and tragedy.

I'm So Excited is a film whose overwhelming liveliness provides an enthusiastic, ebullient rebuke to the despair of its characters. The film's colour scheme is like a makeup counter display, and the narrative has the same sort of spirit, with dabs of humour that gloss over or disrupt the heroine's grief. An ensemble comedy with real bite; it always brings down the house. The film is the gold standard for Almodovar's screwball farces. It is an exuberant comedy of manners drunk on its own outlandish dark comedy drama. The film is a great addition to Almodvar's world and a great introduction for a new generation of Almodovar fans. In the film, Almodovar sets out to charm rather than shock. That he succeeds should not come as a surprise. It is probably Almodovar's most completely accessible film - certainly it's one of his funniest and most popular works. Almodovar's funky widescreen style is captivating, but his madcap story is maddeningly devoid of seriousness. The film doesn't exactly feel like a farce, even though that's quite obviously what it is. It is even wackier than Almodovar's other films -- it also just happens to be more universal. However, when Almodóvar attempts a plot the film becomes tedious. It is a somewhat harsh critique of a Spanish culture that dooms women to indentured servitude. Almodóvar's films have an admirable newness and originality that shouldn't be ignored. The film shows off the bright, gaudy visual style, the breezy manner and the exuberant energy that are Almodovar's particular virtues. Almodovar has already learned how to pull off such a difficult act, by treating the potentially offensive with such cartoonish abandon that it becomes ridiculous to take offense. This new cinematic effort from Spain's enfant terrible is amateurish in both the positive and negative senses of the term, but it already shows his penchant for shock and provocation.

Simon says I'm So Excited! (Los amantes pasajeros) receives:

Also, see my reviews for The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito) and The Crowd.