Film Review: "Alice Through the Looking Glass" (2016).

"It's Time For A Little Madness" in Alice Through the Looking Glass. This live-action/animated fantasy adventure film directed by James Bobin, written by Linda Woolverton and based on the characters created by Lewis Carroll. It is the sequel to the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland (2010). When Alice comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland, she discovers that her friend the Mad Hatter has lost his Muchness and embarks on a perilous race to save him before time runs out.

In December 2012, the film was announced via Variety with Bobin hired to direct. In late January 2014, after numerous titles, the film was again retitled to Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass. By early August, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Matt Lucas, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Lindsay Duncan, Andrew Scott, and Richard Armitage, and features the voices talents of Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Barbara Windsor, Paul Whitehouse, and Alan Rickman returned to reprise their roles. Whilst newcomers Sacha Baron Cohen, Rhys Ifans, Andrew Scott, Richard Armitage, Matt Vogel and Wally Wingert were cast. The film would be Rickman's last film. He died four months before the release. This movie is dedicated to his memory. His final non-voice acting role was in Eye in the Sky (2015), which was released before he died. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late October. Filming took place at Shepperton Studios in Shepperton, Surrey, England.

The film stars Depp, Hathaway, Wasikowska, Lucas, Ifans, Carter, Cohen, Duncan, Scott, and Armitage, and features the voices talents of Fry, Sheen, Spall, Windsor, Vogel, Whitehouse, Wingert, and Rickman. The cast, as usual, are magnificently portraying the wild and bonkers inhabitants of Underland.

There's a lot of money on the screen, the cast are once again really good in the film, the musical score is great, and some of the action sequences are cool. But the story this time around is even less investing than last time. These elements give the movie a nice shine, but when you bust out the polish to make your shoe look pretty, it doesn't make a difference if the sole is missing. The film is simultaneously overdone and undercooked, with a lot of the customary mistakes of giant studio entertainment. It is a feast for the senses and the mind in terms of pure fantasy and imagination buries significant character opportunities, as if the writers were tasked to combine three different scripts that defied being strung together. As much as I hate to say it, if you love Alice and her story, stop at the 2010 film or even rewatch the classic Alice in Wonderland. This sequel doesn't do the character or the Disney legacy justice. Fleshing out the characters; origins felt unnecessary, the attention given to this did feel like a departure from the rest of the story, only coming together in the final act, leaving the audience to wonder why we should care, or even why they would.

Simon says Alice Through the Looking Glass receives:

Also, see my review for Muppets Most Wanted.

NZIFF Film Review: "The Eagle Huntress" (2016).

"The spellbinding true story about a 13-year-old girl on an epic journey to gain victory in a faraway land." This is The Eagle Huntress. This Kazakh-language documentary film directed by Otto Bell, and narrated by Daisy Ridley. This spellbinding documentary follows Aisholpan Nurgaiv a 13-year-old nomadic Mongolian girl who is fighting to become the first female eagle hunter in twelve generations of her Kazakh family. Through breathtaking aerial cinematography and intimate verite footage, the film captures her personal journey while also addressing universal themes like female empowerment, the natural world, coming of age and the onset of modernity.

The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, where it was purchased by Sony Pictures Classics for the US and Altitude Film Distribution in the UK. Afterwards, international distribution was handled by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. Following the film's premiere, Daisy Ridley agreed to join the film as an executive producer and provided the narration, comprising approximately five minutes' total time in the 87-minute film. Bell said of Ridley: "Like so many other theatergoers around the world, I was blown away by Daisy's recent portrayal of an empowered female protagonist [Rey in The Force Awakens]. I'm thrilled she'll be bringing that same energy to supporting a real-world heroine who is also on an epic journey to win victory in a far away land."

Unique, mild glimpse into the life of a thirteen-year-old nomadic Mongolian girl, who just happens to be the first eagle hunter. How wonderful it is to encounter a film like this, with its sweet simplicities and its quiet observations. Here, it's 'progress' the girl rebels against. There's a sense her existence, which is unencumbered by PlayStations or balsamic vinegar, is undermined. That idea, like everything else in this low-key charmer, is expressed in simple terms. It is a gentle film, leisurely of pace and nicely shot. To me, it seems more like a National Geographic special than the sort of thing I look for in cinema. At the same time, Bell also concentrates blissfully on those fleeting moments of life that most movies excise in favour of forwarding the plot. This gentle, observant storytelling is perfectly appropriate for kids. It must also be noted that each of Nurgaiv's hunts are extraordinary and that she is among the most captivating creatures captured on film. A truly touching tale which patiently paints a simple tableau while ever so subtly highlighting an undermined lifestyle deserving of recognition from the onslaught of her own civilisation. It exudes a sweetness and easygoing charm that make it hard to resist despite its lackadaisical quality. Thanks to some ace photography, the beautiful Mongolian wilderness also has a strong presence. The film is very beautiful and also very slow, mostly due to the relatively primitive setting. Damn me for an unreliable cynic, but the film is a remarkable movie: touching, honest, and unassuming, without a hint of irony or false motive. Add in a wisecracking sidekick with a Brooklyn accent, and the film could be remade as a Disney cartoon. 

Simon says The Eagle Huntress receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for McCabe & Mrs Miller.

NZIFF Classic Film Review: "McCabe & Mrs Miller" (1971).

"The story of a gambling man and a hustling lady and the empire they fashioned from the wilderness." This is McCabe & Mrs Miller. This revisionist Western film directed by Robert Altman, adapted by Altman and Brian McKay, and based on McCabe by Edmund Naughton. Charismatic gambler John McCabe arrives in a mining community and decides to open a brothel. The local residents are impressed by his confident demeanour and fast talk, but crafty prostitute Constance Miller sees through McCabe's words and realises he isn't as sharp as he seems. For a share in his profits, Mrs. Miller agrees to help plan and run McCabe's establishment, but soon a powerful company threatens to destroy what they have built up.

In 1968, producer David Foster had purchased the film rights to the novel; he'd learned of the novel while negotiating with Ellen Wright, the widow of novelist Richard Wright, over the rights to The Mandarins, a novel by Simone de Beauvoir. With his partner, Mitchell Broward, Foster then negotiated a deal with the Fox studio for two films. By October, 1968, Foster had commissioned a screenplay from Ben Maddow, a well-known poet and screenwriter. In 1969, during the post-production of M.A.S.H. (1970), Foster signed Altman to direct. They agreed to wait until the commercial success of M.A.S.H. to take the pitch for McCabe to a studio for funding. A second screenplay was commissioned from Brian McKay, who completed it in only five weeks. A revised version of that screenplay became the "shooting script" for the film. Altman offered the lead to Elliott Gould who turned it down to make I Love My Wife. While in England, Foster offered the role to Warren Beatty; Beatty flew to New York City to see M.A.S.H. and then flew to Los Angeles, California to accept the role. In mid October 1970, principal photography commenced, and was shot throughout British Columbia, Canada. Sets were built that were authentic to the period. Since the city of Vancouver generally receives a great deal of rain, the production ran buried hoses throughout the town, placed so they could create the appearance of rain. It was usually only necessary to turn on the hoses to make scenes shot on the rare days when it didn't rain, to match those shot on days when it did. Near the end of filming, it began snowing. Beatty did not want to start shooting in the snow, as it was in a sense dangerous to do so: to preserve continuity, the production would have to be shot in snow. Altman countered that since those were the only scenes left to film, it was best to start since there was nothing else to do. The heavy snow, with the exception of a few "fill-in" patches on the ground, was genuine; the crew members built snowmen and had snowball fights between takes. For a distinctive look, rather than manipulate the film in post-production, Altman and Zsigmond chose to "flash" (pre-fog) the film negative before its eventual exposure, as well as use a number of filters on the cameras; in this way the studio could not force him to change the film's look to something less distinctive. 

Altman and the editor and second unit director, Lou Lombardo, spent nine months editing the film in North Vancouver, close to the location of the filming itself. The editing was an innovation in its time because the principal storyline about McCabe and Miller occupies relatively little of the film's running time, especially in the first half of the film. This aspect of the film's editing also carried through into the film's unusual sound editing, which can blend many conversations and noises and does not emphasise the principal characters. A fan of Leonard Cohen since Cohen's debut album, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), Altman had Lombardo use Cohen's music to maintain a rhythm for the film, in effect using it as a "temp" track. Since McCabe was a Warner Brothers film and Cohen's album was released through Columbia Records, Altman didn't expect to be able to procure rights for Cohen's music. He called Cohen, expecting to trade off his recent success with M.A.S.H., but found that Cohen had no knowledge of it. Instead, Cohen had loved Altman's less popular follow-up film Brewster McCloud (1970). In an unusual arrangement at the time, Cohen arranged for his record company to license the music cheaply, even writing into the contract that sales of that album after the release of the film would turn some of the royalties to Altman. The Stranger Song, Sisters of Mercy and Winter Lady were used for the film. They were released together on a 7-inch single in 1971. Initially, on watching the film, Cohen didn't like the film, but a year later he called Altman to apologise, saying he had seen the film again and loved it. Altman referred to it as an "anti-Western film" because the film ignores or subverts a number of Western conventions. Since its release, the film has received critical acclaim and has earned an Oscar nomination for Christie in the Best Actress category. The film was deemed the 8th greatest Western of all time by the American Film Institute in its AFI's 10 Top 10 list in 2008 and, in 2010, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."

The film stars Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, René Auberjonois, Michael Murphy, Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine, Hugh Millais, and William Devane. The performances given by the cast were top-notch, inspiring, well-drawn and not at all glamourised as typical Hollywood Westerns.

While one of Altman's strongest films, this cynical tale merits a look as a meditation on American history and the American west. Altman and crew have done the necessary job in adapting McCabe and have created a terrific movie out of Naughton's novel of the Western frontier. The movie is full of intelligence and invention. It's Altman at his perverse best.

Simon says McCabe & Mrs Miller receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for The Clan (El Clan).

NZIFF Film Review: "The Clan" ("El Clan") (2015).

"Based on the true story of the Puccio Family." This is The Clan (El Clan). This Argentine biographical crime film written and directed by Pablo Trapero. The film tells the true story of the Puccio clan, a family with a dark secret lurking beneath their seemingly ordinary facade: they earn millions in ransom for the wealthy people they kidnap.

In 2007, Trapero initiated the idea of making a film about the Puccios. By late 2014, Guillermo Francella, Peter Lanzani, Lili Popovich, Gastón Cocchiarale, Giselle Motta, Franco Masini, and Antonia Bengoechea were cast as the Puccio clan. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in early 2015. Filming took place in Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina. Guillermo Manoukian and Rogelia Pozzi, relatives of the Puccios' victims, knew early on about Trapero's intention to shoot the film. They supported the project, as long as it was a serious film, and provided information about the case which was incorporated into the plot. Due to the long period of production, the film missed the opportunity to participate in the Cannes festival.

The film stars Francella, Lanzani, Popovich, Cocchiarale, Motta, Masini, and Bengoechea. The cast tips into melodrama with characters so desperate they are driven to extremes, but that's noir territory. It's an entertaining, albeit disturbing, ride with a helluva final destination. Francella's performance is sleek and unsettling. The Argentinean actor Francella has an almost Bogart-like gift for playing world-weary rotters with a core of nobility.

The film's plotting is at times ragged and muffled, though this might be intentional, a way of suggesting the endless ramifications of the endemic corruption. The performances, however, have depth and resonance. The film's bitterness of vision may owe as much to style as to content: this is not King Lear, it does not go deep. But a vision of sorts it is, harsh and haunting. It's relatively effective as a thriller, but rarely welcomes the viewer into its world of legalities and despair. This is not just about a family drama. It also deals with strong family values, or lack there of, and corruption within the Argentine society and the violence that it spawns. Without resorting to sensationalism, gratuitous gore, false spirituality, or any extraneous artificiality, Trapero has fashioned an emotionally involving picture. Trapero is a force, as a filmmaker, in Argentina's exploding though financially strapped film industry. Though, at times, Trapero is undermined by a weak screenplay for this story of organized crime in Argentina. Even when tackling more mainstream fare, Trapero does it with integrity. Edgy and abrupt, jumping from scene to scene breathlessly without resorting to thriller tropes, while creating a sense of impending danger. It is hard to watch, though fascinating for its performances, and the bottomless corruption it portrays. With the help of two stand-out performances - from Francella and Lanzani - the film manages to engage and educate its audience in a heartfelt, if noisy, manner. Visually and viscerally, the film makes for a chilling and sobering hundred and eight minutes.

Simon says The Clan (El Clan) receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Neruda.

NZIFF Film Review: "Neruda" (2016).

"A renowned poet. An unknown inspector. A legendary manhunt." This is Neruda. This biographical drama film directed by Pablo Larraín, and written by Guillermo Calderon. The film follows a determined police inspector as he searches for Chilean politician Pablo Neruda after he goes into hiding in 1948.

At the tender age of thirteen, he became known as a poet and wrote in a variety of styles, including surrealist poems, overtly political manifestos, and passionate love poems. His name was Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda. He rose to prominence for Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924), a collection of romantic poems. In 1971, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. In addition to being a poet, he was also a diplomat and politician, occupying many diplomatic positions in various countries during his lifetime, this included serving a term as a Senator for the Chilean Communist Party. In 1948, when President Gabriel González Videla outlawed communism in Chile, a warrant was issued for Neruda's arrest. He hid for months throughout the port city of Valparaíso; Neruda escaped through a mountain pass near Maihue Lake into Argentina. Neruda eventually returned to Chile after his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Chile's socialist President Salvador Allende invited him to read at the Estadio Nacional before 70,000 people. He then became Allende's close advisor. During the coup d'état led by Augusto Pinochet that overthrew Allende's government, Neruda was hospitalised with cancer. On 23 September 1973, Neruda died in his house in Isla Negra, just hours after leaving the hospital. Although it was long reported that he died of heart failure, the Interior Ministry of the Chilean government issued a statement in 2015 acknowledging that "it was clearly possible and highly likely" that Neruda was killed as a result of "the intervention of third parties". Hours prior to his death, Neruda suspected a doctor of injecting him with an unknown substance for the purpose of murdering him on Pinochet's orders. Pinochet, backed by elements of the armed forces, denied permission for Neruda's funeral to be made a public event, but thousands of grieving Chileans disobeyed the curfew and crowded the streets. Neruda now is often considered the national poet of Chile, and his works have been popular and influential worldwide. The Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him "the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language".

The film stars Luis Gnecco, Gael García Bernal, Alfredo Castro, and Mercedes Morán. Solid performances were given by the cast who all breathed cinematic life to their historical counterparts. In particular, Gnecco and Bernal's cat-and-mouse chase proved both intense and insightful into both men.

The best movie ever made about Chilean poet/politician, Neruda thoroughly deserves its Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film. Featuring an impressive lead performance from both Luis and Gnecco and Gael García Bernal, Larraín has successfully sculpted his most commercially-appealing film to date.

Simon says Neruda receives:

Also, see my reviews for No and The Handmaiden (아가씨).

Film Review: "The Idol" (2015).

"From the two-time Academy Award nominated director of Paradise Now and Omar." "Based on the incredible true story" comes The Idol. This Palestinian drama film directed by Hany Abu-Assad, and co-written by Abu-Assad and Sameh Zoabi. Talented teenage singer Mohammed Assaf travels from the Gaza Strip to Egypt to audition for the television show "Arab Idol."

The film is based on the true story (with a few fictionalized elements) of Assaf, a singer from Gaza, who was the winner of the second season of "Arab Idol". Principal photography took place in Gaza, the first feature film to be shot there in over two decades, along with Jenin, Amman, Beirut and Cairo.

The film stars Tawfeek Barhom, Kais Attalah, Hiba Attalah, Ahmad Qasem, Abdel Kareem Barakeh, Nadine Labaki, and Ashraf Barhom. The actors project a special authenticity that engages the viewer. The film's real heat came from the soulful performance by Tawfeek as Mohammed Assaf. It's his determination, as much as Boyle's exuberance, that sells the whole thing.

Visually dazzling and emotionally resonant, The Idol is a film that's both entertaining and powerful. An example of a film that's a triumph of all its parts, wherein there are certainly faults, but you're prepared to forgive it. The film so effectively transports viewers to the busy, vibrant, contradictory streets of the Gaza Strip. Abu-Assad takes advantage of the different moments of the boy's life to immerse himself into painful reality. It's not about poverty pornography. It's not about a White guy showing us touchy Brown-skins squatting by the rail-tracks. In the end, it's just about a film, which sweeps you up and takes you for an exhilarating ride on the wild side. Abu-Assad here summons universal identification with characters while still fully immersed in the specificity of their milieu. The film is an exhilarating ride - a feel-good yarn about a Gaza Strip street kid directed by Abu-Assad with a wild energy that makes even Paradise Lost (Abu-Assad's calling card) look leaden-footed. A compelling piece of entertainment that poses bigger questions than it answers, the film is a modern version of the Cinderella story with some spicy food for thought, and an undeniably sweet core. The movie's other star is the city itself, which is brought to hectic, exuberant life by Abu-Assad and cinematographer Ehab Assal. It is a good film and an appealing film with some lovely performances but it's not a great film: it's too sentimental and predictable for that. Any time you see the words "human spirit" attached to a movie, run for the hills. You're about to see a manipulative film in which the scrappy underdog wins against impossible odds. It's a story with a simple and schematic structure, yet as the film progresses and the stakes get higher it cleverly works the built-in tension of the TV show into the drama of the unfolding narrative. It's just a fairy tale, maybe the most delightfully straightforward adaptation of folkloric archetypes I've seen in a modern movie.

Simon says The Idol receives:

NZIFF Film Review: "The Handmaiden" ("아가씨") (2016).

"From Park Chan-wook, the acclaimed director of Oldboy, Thirst and Stoker, comes a bold new vision" with The Handmaiden (아가씨). This South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook, adapted by Park and Syd Lim, and adapted from the novel Fingersmith by Welsh writer Sarah Waters. Set in 1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a girl is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to elope with him, rob her of her fortune, and lock her up in a madhouse. The plan seems to proceed according to plan until Sookee and Hideko discover some unexpected emotions.

After making his English-language debut with Stoker (2013), South Korea's most notorious modern auteur, Park Chan-wook, has returned to his boundary-pushing roots. Director Park has always been known for his films that contain brutal subject matter, sexually explicit material and arty violence and gore. But this film pushes his boundaries even further. He achieved this by exploring two of the most taboo topics, particularity in Korean society. The first is the Japanese Colonial setting. For more then seventy years, Koreans have been haunted by the Japanese Colonial period and scarred by the atrocities committed under Japanese rule. When asked why was it important to explore this dark chapter in his nation's history, director Park replied: "It’s important for films to explore the independence movement and anti-colonialism. But unlike many Korean dramas, which tend to automatically depict the Japanese as villains, my characters aren’t good or evil just by virtue of being Korean or Japanese. My story is about individual lives set during a particular era. I did not try to isolate the story by removing it from historical events, nor did I allow history to overpower the narrative. I felt it was important to portray the changing spirit of the time, however, such as class conflicts, women’s issues, as well medical issues and how mental illnesses were feared and led to prison-like confinement." The other was homosexuality. To most Koreans, this is an embarrassing aspect of human life as South Korea is a predominately Catholic/Christian nation. As to why he felt that it was a topic he wanted to explore, he responded: "From the larger scheme of things I am a genre filmmaker... Even though I explore such a genre-specific topic as homosexuality, it was not my intention to make a human rights film showing individuals overcoming discrimination. Similar to how I wanted to focus on individuals living through the colonial era rather than a story about the colonial era itself, I always wanted to create a movie that portrayed [homosexual romance] as something natural, as just a normal part of life." It is this mindset that has made director Park become the virtual face of contemporary South Korean cinema ever since his 2003 Cannes Grand Prix-winning Oldboy propelled him to international prominence, carving out a reputation for onscreen extremism. The Handmaiden marks director Park's third entry into Cannes, after the controversial Thirst in 2009. The film was known the first mainstream Korean film to feature full-frontal male nudity. Which divided Korean audiences and critics alike. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won Prix du Jury along with Fish Tank.

The film stars Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Kim Tae-ri, Cho Jin-woong, Moon So-ri and Kim Hae-sook. The degrees of eroticism, shock, the foreshadowing and throwbacks throughout (both visual and in dialogue) all seem to go hand-in-hand with the amazing performances by the female and male leads. Kim Min-hee is at her finest as the slightly disturbed Lady Hideko. She shows fragility and elegance in the most subtle ways, never overplaying a character that could turn into the cliched romantic love interest with just the tiniest bit of scene-chewing. Lady Hideko exploits Sook-hee's naivety with her every glance and gesture. My affection for the film also has mostly to do with the performance of Kim Tae-ri as Soo-kee, a naive housemaid whose character arch dramatically transforms as the romance escalates. It is with the two female leads that their romance radiates a strange kind of unnerving yet seductive aura. And the two male leads, Ha Jung-woo and Cho Jin-woong, are both menacing, with Ha's scoundrel swagger to do whatever it takes and Cho's malevolent dedication and discipline to his library. It is these qualities within the two men that make them incredibly dangerous as the snake that guards Uncle Kouzuki's library of unspeakable literature.

Boldly erotic, and playfully ponderous, Park Chan-Wook's visceral The Handmaiden is a strange, powerful tale of love. The film rips open its exquisite dress, and its various twisted undergarments, to fully reveal its explosive essence of the sexual. It is definitely not for the squeamish. Perhaps no auteur is as suited to this kind of storytelling as director Park, a man who has made a career out of films full of sexual perversity and unusual romances. It is a much more interesting than expected, as it plays with the conventions of the lesbian romance and taking us on a very entertaining ride to places that, conceptually, we might not want to go. These days we are so accustomed to thrillers that exist only as machines for creating diversion that it's a shock to find a movie in which the story, however explicit, makes a statement and has a purpose. The film is constantly engaging, suitably intense, certainly different, always suspenseful and even stylishly directed, but it is not Oldboy. The film may not be the best film director Park has made, but his willingness to try something different makes it a decidedly fresh entry into his body of work.

Simon says The Handmaiden (아가씨) receives:

Also, see my reviews for Stoker and Green Room.