The Hitman And Him

The hitman and his chav.

Title:                           The Liability

Certificate:                15

Director:                    Craig Viveiros

Major Players:          Tim Roth, Jack O’Connell, Peter Mullan

Out of five?                3

Hitmen never really go out of fashion when it comes to the movies.  Last year, we had Brad Pitt’s ruthlessly efficient assassin in Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly and next month sees the release of The Iceman, based on the true story of Richard Kuklinski.  But, before that, comes the lower-budget, British offering, The Liability.

When car-mad Adam (Jack O’Connell) crashes the flashy sports car belonging to his mum’s boyfriend, Peter (Peter Mullan), he needs a way to pay off the debt.  Peter finds him work as a driver for the taciturn Roy (Tim Roth) and the job involves a trip to the North East, which turns out to be something of an eye-opener for the teenager.

As soon as you see his car, you know that Roth’s hitman is miles away from the usual Hollywood image.  His Ford Granada Ghia was top of the range in its day, but now it’s on the way out – rather like its owner.  In fact, cars are a constant image throughout the film, from the boyfriend’s sports car (which you would expect to be driven by a hitman!), through the shabby Granada and finally to the sore thumb of a camper van which the hitman and his young side kick are forced to hijack.  So conspicuous is it, that I kept wondering when a police car was going to appear on its tail.  But it never does.

The film’s focus – and greatest success – is the relationship between Adam and Roy.  The latter has all the hallmarks of having been at the top of his game, but those days are long gone: he still has the knowledge and equipment to do the job, but now he’s gloomy and morose.  There is definitely nothing slick or efficient about him – instead, it’s as if the life has been drained out of him and he’s numb to pretty much everything around him.  When he looks at Adam, he wears the expression of somebody regarding an alien being and, indeed, the youngster is an aggravating, cocky chav.  But they share an eye for detail, so much so that you begin to ask if Adam isn’t so much of a liability as another hitman in the making.

The film’s sombre, grey mood mirrors that of Roth’s character, although it is lifted by flashes of dark humour, the best of which is when the odd couple carry out a murder dressed from head to toe in scene of crime plastic clothing.  It takes the edge off the scene and, in fact, director Craig Viveiros uses humour throughout  as a cover-up for the deeply nasty underlying story that drives the film.  When Adam, in a moment of curiosity, discovers what looks like porn on Peter’s laptop he has, in fact, found evidence that his mother’s boyfriend is involved in sex trafficking.  It’s always in the back of his mind – and ours, despite the director’s attempt to disguise it.

The brutal reality of the boyfriend’s “business” is also at odds with a large chunk of the plot, which involves the sister of one of his victims.  She appears out of nowhere at a crucial time and it’s too much of a coincidence.  To accept the second half of the film, in which she features heavily, you have to suspend a lot of disbelief, which doesn’t sit comfortably with the downbeat yet more realistic first part.

It’s the interplay between Adam and Roy that gives the film its momentum, with Roth and O’Connell making an excellent team.  Roth’s hitman is downbeat to the point of being apathetic, yet he still find moments of pleasure in fat Cuban cigars and music from the same country.  O’Connell is his perfect foil, enthusiastic to the point of being irritating and full of himself – until he has to deliver.  The current go-to actor for seriously nasty villains, Peter Mullan, is yet again truly repellent and utterly believable.

At its heart, The Liability has a partnership that deserves a stronger, more convincing plot.  As it stands, it’s that unlikely partnership that makes you want to stay with the movie, but the combination of the undertone of the sub-plot and the uneven storyline make this is a hitman film that’s somewhat wide of the mark.

The Liability opens in cinemas on Friday, 17 May.

 

Almodovar’s Flight Of Fantasy

They’re so excited. Are we?

Title:                          I’m So Excited 

Certificate:               15

Director:                   Pedro Almodovar

Major Players:         Javier Camara, Antonio de la Torre

Out Of Five?            3

If the number of film journalists at the screening I attended was anything to go by, an Almodovar movie is an occasion.  There was hardly a spare seat. But the director’s legions of fans may not be overly happy with his latest offering.  After the psychological complexity of The Skin I Live In and the nostalgic feel of Broken Embraces, here we have something completely different.  It’s almost as if it’s been made by Almodovar on a day off.

As they take off for Mexico, the passengers on Peninsula Flight 2549 have no idea that a technical failure has put them all in danger.  In the face of this, the pilots and crew focus themselves on distracting the people in their charge, using a variety of less than conventional methods.  They need to, as the group of passengers in Business Class are particularly challenging.

My initial reaction was to think that I’m So Excited was a spoof of a spoof and, while in hindsight, I don’t think that’s what Almodovar intends it to be, it does look over its shoulder in the direction of Airplane.  Look at the list of passengers: a hitman, a newly married drug mule and his wife, a former porn-star-turned-celebrity, a psychic looking to lose her virginity and a swindling financier wracked with guilt (his name, appropriately enough, is Mr Mas – mas being Spanish for “more”).  All we’re missing is the guitar-playing nun.

That is, however, where the similarity ends.  The director seems to be more interested in seeing how people face the ultimate challenge in their life – death – which is a mighty theme for such a camp, feather weight comedy.  And, in truth, he doesn’t go into it in any great depth.

Almodovar is in a playful, almost flirty mood.  The majority of the comedy – which frequently comes close to farce – is set within the confines of the plane, concentrating the action.  We don’t see much of the economy class passengers or their stewardesses – mainly because they’ve all been given a ‘muscle relaxant’ to keep them quiet and they’re all fast asleep.  The three stewards in Business Class are more caricatures than characters, not so much as camp as a row of tents as a field full of marquees.  We are, however, told right at the beginning of the film that what we’re about to see has nothing to do with reality, so a more naturalistic style would have been totally out of place.  Instead, they’re allowed to go over the top with gusto.

The best scene in the film comes towards the end. When the plane lands at the climax of the film, Almodovar very neatly takes you up a blind alley.  The shots of the deserted, silent airport interiors combined with the sound of the plane screeching to land on the other side of closed doors, imply that the landing hasn’t gone well.  It doesn’t spoil things to know that it goes to plan, so much so that all the characters needing to resolve their relationships have ample opportunity and all the loose ends are tied up very neatly.

Despite its contemporary setting, the film has a very 60s feel.  The stewards’ uniforms look like something straight out of the 60s, the soundtrack sounds as if it’s been lifted from a Hitchcock thriller of the same vintage and Metronomy’s The Look which, despite being released in 2011, also has the sound of the same era.  And the graphics at the end and beginning of the film are in the same retro style too.  In case you’re wondering, the eponymous song from The Pointer Sisters is in the film and will probably never be the same again, once you’ve seen the three stewards perform their dance routine.

The film has been well and truly hammered by some critics.  It’s not Almodovar’s best by any means, and it has the feel of a director wanting to make a film simply to have a good time.  For anybody who’s not seen any of his other films, it could be a good way of easing yourself in, with the proviso that comedy isn’t his usual stomping ground.  It’s rather like Spanish tapas: enjoyable, varied and tasty, but not wholly satisfying and leaving you wanting a more substantial main course.

I’m So Excited is on general release from Friday, 3 May.

CSI China?

Family man Liu Jinzi (left) is an accidental hero. Isn’t he?

Title:                          Dragon

Certificate:               15

Director:                   Peter Chan

Major Players:         Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Wei Tang

Out of five?              3.5

There’s an age old cinematic tradition of Western movie makers adapting stories from the East and vice versa.  Admittedly, Eastern directors have managed to make over some Western classics – think Kurosawa’s Ran and Throne Of Blood (his distinctive re-workings of King Lear and Macbeth respectively).  We haven’t done so badly though, with The Magnificent Seven (Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai) and The Departed (Korea’s Infernal Affairs).

But what happens when an Eastern director re-locates a Western story to rural China, but films it in a very Western way?  The result is what can best be described as “fusion cinema” or, put another way, Chinese director Peter Chan’s Dragon.

Liu Jinzi (Donnie Yen) leads a peaceful, idyllic life in a South West Chinese village with his young wife and children.  Out of the blue, he becomes a local hero when foils a robbery at the village store, killing the thugs responsible, who turn out to be much-wanted criminals.  But detective Xu Bai-Ju (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is convinced their deaths indicate there’s more to Liu Jinzi than meets the eye and sets out to dig into his past.

If the story sounds familiar, then it is.  Despite a few tweaks here and there and the Chinese setting, this is David Kronenberg’s 2005 revenge thriller, A History Of Violence, all over again.  Nonetheless, Dragon more than stands up as a film in its own right and has plenty to offer audiences, regardless of whether or not they are martial arts fans.

Essentially a detective thriller, Dragon made its first appearance at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and subsequently did good box office in Asia.  Yet it’s surprising that it’s only just made it to the UK when it is clearly made with the Western market in mind.  If you closed your eyes and listened to the soundtrack, it wouldn’t conjure up a Chinese village – it’s more Sino-rock than anything.  But most apparent of all is the way director Chan has transplanted CSI:Crime Scene Investigation into rural China.

Chan re-creates the series’ trademarks of showing the body’s interior reactions to injuries in graphic and vivid detail, as well as re-creating the crime through the eyes and imagination of the investigator – who also displays Grissom-like traits, placing his faith in forensics and the law, not people, in his pursuit of the truth.  But we never escape the fact that we are, after all, in Asia, with the gang at the heart of the story being a demonic cult of serial killers and cannibals, under the leadership of a deeply malevolent Master and his knife-wealding consort.

Is it a martial arts film?  There are certainly martial arts sequences and, as the story progresses, it becomes more violent: one prolonged fight between Liu Jinzi and the Master’s consort is breathtaking stuff, moving over roofs, through animal stalls and into a waterfall.  But it’s more than just fight sequences, or some of its more gruesome flashbacks, and takes on bigger themes.  Liu Jinzi’s honourable motives come close to destroying the village and, more importantly, his own family, while Xu Bai-Ju begins to question his belief in the rule of law, a loyalty that has already cost him his marriage.

The film winds up neatly, mirroring the opening sequence of family life, but showing how things have changed since then.  But the difference for Liu Jinzi is that, unlike the detective who uncovered his secret, he still has his family and his life will continue with them.

Dragon is intriguing and holds your attention throughout, thanks to a combination of eye catching settings and strong performances, both from the lead actors and especially from Jimmy Wang Yu as the brutal leader of the criminal cult.  It’s also an intelligent fusion of film styles from both sides of the globe, which makes it eminently watchable.

Dragon is on limited release from Friday, 3 May.

Black’s Black Comedy

Even the “sweet” Bernie finds Mrs Nugent is hard going

Title:                           Bernie

Certificate:                12A

Director:                    Richard Linklater

Major Players:          Jack Black, Shirley Maclaine, Matthew McConaughey

Out Of Five?              4

We’ve had to wait a while for this one.  Bernie was actually made back in 2011, fetched up at the London Film Festival last October – and then disappeared into the doldrums of having no release date.  Even now, its distribution isn’t extensive and it’s not difficult to see why.  A black comedy about a funeral-director-turned-murderer, complete with graphic insights into the mortician’s art, isn’t going to have mass appeal.

Bernie Tiede is the assistant funeral director in the small town of Carthage, Texas.  Through interviews with residents and flashbacks, we see how he establishes himself in the community so firmly that he is loved by everybody, especially the old ladies.  He eventually befriends Mrs Nugent, an elderly, rich and deeply unpleasant widow and becomes her companion.  Then her accountant realises he hasn’t seen or heard from his client for several months ……….

This is another film based on an article – surely we’re not running out of books to adapt?  The Sessions earlier this year was based on a newspaper feature and Bernie is inspired by an article in Texas Monthly by Skip Hollandsworth, who also co-wrote the script.  But it really is stranger than fiction, and that gives it an unsettling quality.

Its pseudo-documentary style reinforces that the film is based on the truth.  The commentary provided by the residents of Carthage – some played by real residents, others by actors – gives the film its colour, structure and momentum.  They are gloriously unaware of how much they are revealing about the town and themselves.  At times, they are uncomfortably frank, at others unintentionally funny: as a loose ensemble, they are a gift to director Richard Linklater.  Despite themselves, they paint a vivid picture of small-town America – albeit affluent small-town America, in this case: close-knit, proud and totally absorbed in other people’s business.

The saying goes that if something appears too good to be true, it probably is.  And, certainly, that’s your immediate impression of Bernie Tiede.  He’s devoutly religious, a consummate salesman, a pillar of the community, immersing himself in local cultural activities and good causes.  Nobody – especially the old ladies of the town – has a bad word to say against him.  It goes further than that.  He is frequently described as “sweet”, not a word that immediately comes to mind in describing a man.   The implication that he is gay constantly hangs over him, but this is never confirmed.  He is, without doubt, effeminate, mincing along as though his buttocks are permanently clenched and  with a waistband on his trousers that’s just a touch too high.  He always tucks his shirt into his trousers and, try as you might, you can’t escape the thought that it’s also tucked into his underpants.

This is, however, a very black comedy.  As his relationship with Mrs Nugent grows, she gives him power of attorney, so he is able to enjoy her wealth – foreign holidays, flying lessons and all the trappings of that money.  The reason Mrs Nugent (Shirley Maclaine) disappears is that Bernie eventually loses patience with her and shoots her.  In the back.  He then goes on a spending spree, benefiting the church specifically, individuals and the town as a whole.   He’s not a cold blooded killer, but he doesn’t give a second thought to spending all that money – partially to buy friends – so while you do chuckle at him, you also shake your head.  And not just at him, but at the residents who are steadfast in his support.  Has he deceived them all, or just himself?

Jack Black is totally convincing as the rather pathetic Bernie: this isn’t a wholly straight role for him, more of a transitional one which demonstrates he has more than enough potential to move away from comedy altogether.  This is nothing like any of his previous roles and, despite the temptation to go over the top with a camp character, Black delivers something much more subtle and compelling.  Matthew McConaughey continues his rich vein of form as the cowboy District Attorney with his eye to the main chance and any publicity he can get.  And while Shirley Maclaine over acts occasionally as the mean spirited Mrs Nugent, her face and demeanour is so sour she could have been weaned on a pickle.

Bernie is not a big film, nor would you describe it as a great one.  But it’s written and acted with subtlety and skilfully combines a very dark humour with sharp observation.  It’s been worth the wait, but it’s a shame not more people will see it.

This review is now available as a podcast: http://www.cyberears.com/index.php/Show/audio/5984

Cannes Line-Up Announced

Seems Behind The Candelabra is a proper film after all

With less than a month to go before the start of the 66^th Cannes Film Festival, the line up for this year is looking a particularly diverse one, even if British representation is decidedly thin on the ground.

Let’s re-phrase that.  It’s not so much thin as a minority of one and comes in the shape of Stephen Frears’ latest offering, Mohammed Ali’s Greatest Fight.  This is an HBO production, so it’s open to question whether or  not it will actually make it into cinemas (more of that later).  And it certainly doesn’t sound like one for boxing fans, as it covers the boxer’s decision to defy the draft and not go to Vietnam.  It certainly has a quality cast – Christopher Plummer, Danny Glover and Frank Langella – but it isn’t in contention for the prestigious Palme D’Or.

Nineteen films are competing for this year’s award and, with that most mainstream of directors, Steven Spielberg, chairing the judging panel, the winner is difficult to predict.  With films coming from as far afield as China and Chad, there’s certainly plenty for them to get their teeth into.  Here, in no particular order, are some that are likely to find their way into our cinemas in the fullness of time:

The Coen Brothers offer Inside Llewyn Davies, which sounds like it pays more than a passing nod to the career of Bob Dylan.  Davies is a folk singer, played by little known character actor Oscar Isaac, who comes to Greenwich Village in the early 60s with not much more than a guitar and a dream.  Coen regular John Goodman plays a music manager and the cast also includes Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake.

Ryan Gosling’s considerable talents, including his muscles, are on display again in Only God Forgives, which re-unites him with Nicolas Winding Refn, the director of Drive.  Gosling plays an American running a Thai boxing club in Bangkok as a cover for the family’s drug smuggling enterprise and Kristen Scott Thomas plays his fearsome mother. Gosling’s been churning out some intense, demanding stuff recently, so it’s no surprise he’s said he’s going to take a break from acting.

The other HBO offering at Cannes is Behind The Candelabra, which is said to be Steven Soderbergh’s last before retirement.  Originally scheduled only for release on HBO at the end of May, it now looks to be making its way onto the big screen in June – so it’s a real film after all!  This is the story of Liberace’s relationship with his much younger lover, with Michael Douglas playing the flamboyant pianist and Matt Damon as boyfriend Matt Thorson.  The supporting cast includes Rob Lowe in the most extraordinary wig, Debbie Reynolds and Dan Aykroyd.

Last year’s chair of judges, Alexander Payne, is back in competition with Nebraska.  With character driven films like Sideways and The Descendants to his name, this takes a father and son on a journey across Nebraska to claim a haul of money they believe they have won.  Filmed in black and white, it stars Bruce Dern as the father.

James Gray’s The Immigrant assembles a strong cast – Joaquin Phoenix, Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner – for the tale of a woman emigrating to America from Poland who has to work in burlesque and cabaret to make ends meet while trying to be reunited with her sister, who is held at Ellis Island.

Outside of the competition, the most eagerly awaited film is also the curtain raiser – Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.  Notoriously difficult to film, the last cinematic version of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel was made in 1974 with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.  This time, in typically extravagant Luhrmann style, we have Leonardo Di Caprio and Carey Mullligan.  We’ve had to wait a while for this, as it was originally scheduled for last year and a delayed release is usually not a good sign.  But this is Baz we’re talking about!  After opening Cannes, it arrives in the UK the following day, so we won’t have to wait much longer.

Also outside the competition is the latest from Sophia Coppola.  The Bling Ring has former Harry Potter actress Emma Watson in a story about a series of robberies from wealthy homes in Malibu, which is based on true events.

And the festival closes with another non-competitive offering, Zulu, a thriller with Orlando Bloom and Forest Whitaker set in Cape Town during the apartheid era.

Cannes is often regarded as the first chance to see what prove to be the big films of the year – although that doesn’t always turn out to be the case.  Last year’s Palme D’Or winner, Amour, had a good showing during the awards season earlier this year, but the previous year’s recipient, The Tree Of Life from Terence Malick, failed to gain much of a following.  And 2010 winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives very nearly sank without trace.

But the elephant in the room this year is Soderbergh.  No offence intended.  The winner of the Palme D’Or back in 1989 for Sex, Lies and Videotape says he’s retiring.  Could the gleaming trophy be the perfect finishing touch to his career – even if it’s for a film that wasn’t regarded as such until very recently?  Place your bets …………..

For the full list of films at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, go to http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en.html

My Movie Show On The Air

My movie show launches this week on Turquoise Radio

Listen up!  As of this week, The Coops Review takes to the airways in an even bigger way – on the new internet radio station, Turquoise Radio.

I’ll be hosting a new, weekly movie show called Talking Pictures with Freda Cooper.  Every Thursday evening at 10 pm UK time, I’ll be looking at the latest cinema and DVD releases, news from the film world and playing the best in movie music.

Turquoise Radio launches officially tomorrow, Monday, 15 April at 9 am UK time, although you do have to wait until later in the week for my show.  And, if you like the sound of my voice, I’ll also be presenting a music programme called Sunday Lunch, at 1 pm UK time every Sunday (unsurprisingly).

To listen, all you have to do is go to www.turquoiseradio.com, or download either the iPhone or Android app.

I’m still on The Wireless from Age UK, by the way, so you can catch my One To Watch film recommendation every Sunday evening at about 10.20 pm.  Just go to www.ageuk.org.uk and click listen – or, if you’re in London or Yorkshire, you can tune in on DAB radio.

Stay tuned!

 

Punching Above Its Weight

Mark Strong lets his weapons do the talking.

Title:                            Welcome To The Punch

Certificate:                 15

Director:                      Eran Creevy

Major Players:           James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough

Out Of Five?               3

There’s nothing I like better than a good, gripping thriller – unless it happens to be a good, gripping, British one.  For all their budgets and A list stars, Hollywood very rarely manages to make them quite like the Brits.  They just don’t do gritty like we do.

But, with our Guy Richie phase behind us, what next?  Director and writer Eran Creevy would have you believe it’s him and his Hong Kong inspired Welcome To The Punch.  But while he’s clearly a talented director – and I’ve spent some far worse times in the cinema – I’m not totally convinced.

In hiding in Iceland, former criminal Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong) is forced to return to the UK when his son is injured in a bungled heist.  He immediately finds himself up detective Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy), who he previously wounded and humiliated and who is now obsessed with bringing him to justice.  The two of them are on a collision course – but then a bigger conspiracy threatening both of them changes everything.

The tradition of British thrillers and crime/gangster movies is a long one, including outstanding titles like Brighton Rock, Get Carter, The Long Good Friday and Sexy Beast.  Uncompromising and hard-nosed, they were less flashy than their American counterparts, until the arrival of Guy Richie.  On the face of it, Creevy, seems to regard himself as a possible successor.  A self-confessed fan of what he calls “cops and robbers movies”, he recalls being brought up on Hong Kong action films – and it shows.

Although a low-budget production, Creevy sees his film following in the footsteps of the likes of Heat and Infernal Affairs.  There is certainly plenty of gloss on the surface, with London looking cool, but not in the tourist sense: it’s faceless, dark and full of chrome and bright lights.

It also has a decidedly sci-fi feel which may be due, in part, to its Executive Producer, Ridley Scott.  With the aerial night time shots of London bearing more than a passing resemblance to Blade Runner – minus the weird overhead ads, of course – there were moments when I thought we were in for Brit Runner.  The frequent heavy rain and night sequences made it even more likely but, thankfully, I was wrong.

Credit, though, to Scott for recognising talent – on the basis of Welcome To The Punch, Creevy should go far.  He has an infectious enthusiasm for cinema, a powerful visual sense and the ability to bring the best out of his quality British cast.  James McAvoy is suitably twitchy and hyper as the obsessed Max, while Andrea Riseborough is tough and forthright as his partner, who has the curious habit of writing notes on the back of her hand.  But the film belongs to Mark Strong as Sternwood.  He’s a riveting presence on screen, despite comparatively little dialogue, letting his steely eyes and weapons do the talking.

With all this going for him, there was the distinct possibility that Creevy could have taken the British crime thriller in a new and different direction.  Sadly, he doesn’t.  Underneath all the action, bright lights and gloss, is an old fashioned movie, pitting a cop against his number one adversary.  There is, essentially, nothing new here.

As an hour and a half of what used to be called thick-ear entertainment, Welcome To The Punch hits the spot.  Where it falls short is in its ambitions to be something bigger. But the recognition it should bring to its director will, hopefully, mean that his ambitions will come to something much more substantial.

Welcome To The Punch is released nationwide on Friday, 15 March.

This review is now available as a podcast: http://www.cyberears.com/index.php/Browse/playaudio/18177.