FILM REVIEW: CORIOLANUS

Icon Film Distribution
Now Showing




Pride is the deadliest of the seven sins, and Caius Martius (Ralph Fiennes) has it in spades. But pride also cometh before the fall, and the Roman general, recently dubbed Coriolanus in honour of his efforts fighting insurgents in the city of Corio, is about to take an almighty tumble off the pedestal from which the government -- though, pointedly, not the people -- of Rome have placed him.

While Caius has strong support from both Senator Menenius (Brian Cox), and his mother, Volumnia (a commanding Vanessa Redgrave), some members of the parliament (James Nesbitt and Paul Jesson) and the citizens of Rome are less enamoured with the man.

They appreciate his war efforts but not his attitude to their plight, and when Caius refuses to beg for their endorsement for a Senate seat, people power prevails and the General must accept banishment from Rome or face execution.

But Hell hath no fury like a proud General scorned, as Caius seeks revenge on Rome by forming an uneasy alliance with Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler), leader of the the Volscian insurgents and his sworn enemy (we witness the pair do hand-to-hand combat at the battle of Corio).

Fiennes, making his directorial debut, and screenwriter-of-the-moment, John Logan (Hugo and Rango), adapting William Shakespeare's play, wisely decide against a self-consciously "modern" setting (like Richard Loncraine's 1930's set Richard III (1995) and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996)) for Coriolanus.

Instead we get the recognisable concrete jungles and corridors of power of an international capital. And Rome (actually Belgrade, Serbia and shot by The Hurt Locker's cinematographer, Barry Ackroyd) has never looked so drab and unappealing; its people demonstrate in the streets for food, and civil war is waged on the outskirts of the city and throughout the country.

All of this provides Coriolanus with an immediacy and modern relevance, and yet I failed to be fully engaged. Admittedly, I'm not as Shakespeare savvy as I'd like to be but it wasn't the language I struggled with. Indeed, the only time the film came to life for me was when Redgrave was on screen.

The veteran British actress can recite the Bard as easily as she breathes and her Volumnia, proud yet overbearing mother who revels in the reflected glory of Caius's triumphs, provides an oomph which the battle scenes and bloodletting didn't.

Redgrave also manages to make Jessica Chastain (this being one of six films the actress appeared in in 2011) seem anaemic by comparison, although the role of Virgilia, Caius's loyal yet cautious wife, isn't that fullblooded to begin with.

Coriolanus may also appear to be a safe choice for Fiennes' directorial debut -- like Redgrave, Shakespeare's words flow freely from the actor's tongue -- but familiarity hasn't bred contempt. It's a boldly executed film, and could easily work as introductory Shakespeare in school classrooms as well as engaging a cinema going public who (think they) don't get the Bard.

But like the good people of Rome, I failed to be won over by the many virtues of Coriolanus.

FILM REVIEW: HEADHUNTERS

Rialto Distribution
Now Showing




Headhunters, adapted from the international bestselling novel by Norwegian author, Jo Nesbo, starts out resembling one type of film – that of the art heist – and soon morphs into another kind, one involving international corporate espionage, a killer who just won't quit and a strong vein of Nordic humour which you'll either get or not.

Roger Brown (Aksell Hennie, who looks for all the world like the offspring of Christopher Walken), works as a headhunter, seeking out the best corporate candidates for positions within his company. He also uses his position as a front for stealing expensive works of art from said prospective employees; no one seems to click when asked questions about their partner's work routine or whether or not they have a dog.

Part of the reason for Roger's sideline as an art thief is his wife, Diana (Synnove Macody Lund). Like the Greek goddess of beauty, she inspires love and devotion in Roger, and he believes this love is conditional on the life they've become accustomed to but can't afford.

Truth be told, Diana would be much happier with a baby than a home worthy of Norwegian Architectural Digest, but whether an aversion to children or an addiction to the money and thrills gained in robbery, Roger avoids the subject of parenthood at every opportunity.

Director Morten Tyldum deftly establishes Roger's double life, including his modus operandi with his security guard accomplice, Ove Kjikerud (Eivind Sander), and it's an intriguing set up for the film. But then events take a turn when Roger, through the art gallery-owning Diana, is introduced to Clas Greve (Game of Thrones's Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).

An ex-employee of a rival company, and a former mercenary, Clas is in Oslo to handle the estate of his recently deceased aunt, an estate which includes a Rubens painting, The Calydonian Boar Hunt; stolen by the Nazis in the 1940s and believed to be worth tens, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars.

Naturally, Roger's interest is piqued – this is the ship he's long been waiting on to come in – but it's while in the process of stealing the Rubens that he happens upon information that will have him rethinking both his marriage and his hiring of Clas; information which sets off a chain of events that sees Roger go on the run as his life turns to shit – quite literally at one point.

I'll say nothing of the twists and turns which the plot of Headhunters takes, only to say that it swings unevenly between an action-based conspiracy thriller and a black comedy, one which I was never quite sure I was supposed to be laughing with or at – or neither.

Still, I'm prepared to give Tyldum's film the benefit of the doubt and assume it's the Nordic sense of humour which in this instance has failed to translate, for as a thriller, Headhunters mostly works: there are some suspenseful moments and audacious action set pieces.

Granted, some of the film's action requires a suspension of disbelief but no more so than its American counterparts. And unlike the recent Contraband, which piled complication upon complication to very little effect, Headhunters is never dull as it proceeds to get crazier and bloodier.

FILM REVIEW: LIKE CRAZY

Paramount Pictures
Now Showing




In the best tradition of bitter sweet, micro-budget romances (think Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise/Before Sunset, and the Oscar-winning Irish gem, Once), comes Like Crazy, writer-director Drake Doremus' story of post-post graduate lovers thwarted by bureaucracy and the tyranny of distance.

When university students Anna (Felicity Jones) and Jacob (Anton Yelchin) fall in love in their final weeks of study at a Santa Monica university -- Doremus capturing this first burst of young love in a beautiful montage sequence, where Anna and Jacob ride in go-carts, frolic on beaches and enjoy moments of quiet togetherness -- they want that loving feeling to never end.

But when Anna overstays her student visa -- uanble to abandon Jacob for the summer and return to her native England -- she learns, after a brief trip home, that she is unable to return to the States.

What are the young lovers to do? Technology enables the couple to keep in touch regularly, and Jacob, operating a fledgling handmade furniture business, is able to cross the pond to visit Anna when time and funds allow. And while distance may make the heart grow fonder, just how long can they keep this love alive?

Should they break up, or, as Anna suggests towards the end of one of Jacob's visits, should they see other people? Or perhaps, as Anna's father suggests (Anna's parents perfectly played by Oliver Muirhead and Alex Kingston), they should get married? Certainly Jacob moving himself and his business to London doesn't seem like a viable option, and marriage would help speed up the bureaucratic process which is preventing Anna's return to America.

Matters are complicated further as the passage of time (the film takes place over an almost four year period) sees Anna's career as a writer progress, and both form attachments with other people: Anna with her pretty boy neighbour, Simon (Charlie Bewley), and Jacob with his assistant, Sam (Jennifer Lawrence, making an impact with little screen time).

And Like Crazy makes an impact, too. Drake Doremus' second feature, which debuted to acclaim at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, may be small in many ways but its emotional universe is real and affecting, thanks mostly to the two leads.

There's an easy chemistry between Jones and Yelchin. Apparently Doremus began with nothing but a 20-page outline which he relied upon his actors to help flesh out. They may not have the best of improvisational skills, but Jones and Yelchin make for a likeable and believable couple. There's an authentic intimacy between the two, made all the more powerful in the film's final scene which took my breath away.

Like Crazy may not be in quite the same league as those aforementioned films but nevertheless, it won -- and broke -- my heart.

FILM REVIEW: A SEPARATION

Hopscotch Films
Now Showing




In Asghar Farhadi's A Separation, good people are forced to choose between doing what is right and what is best, a decision further complicated by the Iranian culture in which they live and the faith some of them subscribe to, creating a moral complexity which sees this taut domestic drama play out more like a thriller.

The film opens with Nader (Peyman Maadi) and Simin (Leila Hatami) petitioning the court for a divorce, which is apparently -- and surprisingly -- easily achieved in Iran if both parties consent. Simin wants to move her family overseas to better the future of her teenage daughter, Termeh (Sarina Fahardi); the divorce proceedings are a result of Nader's refusal to leave Iran while his elderly, Alzheimer's stricken father is still alive.

Until Nader agrees to the divorce, Simin moves in with her mother but arranges for Razieh (Sareh Bayat), a relative of a friend, to work as housekeeper for Nader and nursemaid for his father. And that's when the family's troubles really begin.

Razieh, a devout Muslim who hasn't the approval of her husband, Hodjat (Shahab Hosseini), to seek employment and isn't sure the Qu'ran approves of her nursing a man who is not a relative, reluctantly takes the job.

But then one day Nader and Termeh arrive home to find Razieh absent and the old man fallen off his bed to which he has been tied. Upon her return, which she never properly explains, Nader angrily fires accusations at Razieh and expels her, physically, from his home, setting in motion a chain of events which sees everyone caught up in Iran's unique legal system.

I wasn't aware of Razieh's secret (the reason why she abandoned the old man) going in to A Separation -- a rarity these days where it's nigh impossible not to know everything about a film before seeing it; especially one as lauded and awarded as this -- and I won't reveal it here.

Needless to say, the title of Farhadi's film is not about the literal separation between husband and wife but the more complex separation between one's heart and head, between faith and belief, pride and humility, and between right and good.

All characters in this complex drama are torn between two positions and make their decisions based on what is best for them. But not in a selfish or malicious manner. Indeed, there are no bad people in A Separation, merely ones who act without enough forethought for the consequences of their actions.

The film's most heartbreaking moment comes when Termeh (played by the director's daughter) learns that she must lie to the court on behalf of her father; you can almost see the young girl's heart break.

A Separation screened at the Sydney Film Festival back in June 2011 where it won the major prize and was also a hit with audiences. The film has since gone on to collect accolades around the world, culminating in this week's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

I missed Farhadi's film back in June (not for lack of trying) and wish I had been able to come to it sans buzz. If A Separation didn't affect me as strongly as it might have, that has less to do with the film and more my own heightened expectations.

For it is an almost flawlessly executed film (it was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars): perfectly performed, emotional, morally complex, and with an insight into a culture we in the West really know little about, but one with hearts and minds as recognisably human as our own.