London Film Festival review - West of Memphis

The West Memphis Three

Director Amy Berg does not shy away from heavy subjects. Her first film, the Oscar-nominated Deliver Us From Evil, examined the cover up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.  This, her second feature, examines the murder of three eight-year-old boys in Arkansas in 1993, and the litany of mistakes and lies involved in the ensuing investigation and trials. West of Memphis is an exquisitely detailed look at how justice can remain elusive, and it is likely to make you very, very angry at the unfairness of it all.

When the bodies of three little boys – Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore – were found naked in a ditch in May 1993, the police believed that the murders had been part of a satanic ritual. Three teenage boys – Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, known as the West Memphis Three - were arrested. Misskelley, who has learning difficulties, confessed after a long interrogation, and implicated the other two boys. At the trial, witnesses came forward attesting that they had bragged about killing the little boys as part of an occult rite. In the end Echols was sentenced to death, and the other two were sentenced to life in prison.

Berg examines the “facts” presented at trial in detail. The level of incompetence on display and the wilful disregard for the truth is astonishing. But this documentary is not just about bashing the police or the American criminal justice system. It also looks at the effect of the crime on the families involved, adding to the emotional impact. The mother of Stevie Branch is interviewed extensively, and her words are painful to watch.

Despite the bleakness of the horrific events and their aftermath, there is some light in this film.  A huge campaign was launched in support of the West Memphis Three. People marched carrying banners, concerts were held, and celebrities got involved – really involved. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Henry Rollins of Black Flag campaigned for over a decade, becoming friends of Damien Echols. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh (producers of this film) paid for private detectives, forensic experts and DNA tests. In this case, people power ultimately made the difference.

West of Memphis is a relentless look at how a triple tragedy became a sextuple one, and how hope can stay alive in the face of tremendous odds.  I urge you to see it.

Film review - The Dictator

I’ve been a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen since the Eleven O’Clock Show, where Ali G premiered and showed up a lot of posh people. When his power to make people say what they really think was combined with the genius of four Seinfeld writers, magic ensued in the form of Borat. After Borat and Bruno, Baron Cohen is now too famous to go undercover, and so he has to fall back on purely scripted situations. Unfortunately the script of The Dictator is patchy, revolting, and not funny enough.

The film follows Admiral General Aladeen (Baron Cohen), the all-powerful leader of the oil-rich African state of Wadiya. Just think of him as Borat, but in charge. This is a man who has everything he wants. He is also easier to upset than Stalin, executing all those who even look at him in the wrong way. On a trip to the United Nations in New York, his scheming uncle (Sir Ben Kingsley) tries to kill him and replaces him with a double. Alone and penniless, Aladeen is taken in by earnest health food store owner Zoey (Anna Faris).

The first half of the film set in Wadiya satirises Gaddafi and his ilk perfectly. The second half in New York, however, doesn’t live up to this good start. The plot is thin and badly sketched out, which would be fine if there were lots of good comic set pieces to keep us entertained. However, I can only think of one genuinely funny bit amongst a lot of disgusting ones. The only film I could relate it to is Freddy Got Fingered, but without the surreal heights of Tom Green’s magnum opus. Anyone who has seen Freddy Got Fingered knows that the comparison could never be complimentary.

I am shocked that the director Larry Charles and Baron Cohen’s co-writers Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer – the brains behind Seinfeld¸ Clerks: The Animated Series and Eurotrip (I’m not adding that to the list as a joke, it’s a hugely enjoyable film – Scotty doesn’t know!) could create something with so many poorly conceived moments.

There are some lines that really nail American’s attitude to the Middle East and the Middle East’s attitude to Israel, but not really enough to make it worth the ticket price.

Film review - Mirror Mirror

The trailer for this film looked beyond awful – one of the dwarves actually said “Snow who? Snow way!” I was willing to give it a chance, however, as The Fall’s trailer was terrible but the film was great. Apparently Tarsem Singh’s films don’t trailerise well.  In actuality this reimagining of the Snow White tale is stunningly beautiful, frothy and fun.

Snow White (Lily Collins) has been held prisoner in her own castle by her wicked stepmother (Julia Roberts). When she falls in love with a handsome prince (Armie Hammer) that the queen wants for herself, she is banished into the woods. There she meets seven bandits of restricted growth who show her how to fight for her kingdom.

The storyline is quite simple and although it deviates from the original (Snow White sword fighting etc.), it doesn’t feel revolutionary in any way. What it is, however, is enjoyable, with good performances and a script full of nice touches. Julia Roberts is deliciously over the top, Lily Collins is cute as a button and Armie Hammer is suitably pompous and dimwitted. Nathan Lane also does a good little turn as the evil queen’s henchman, and it is nice to see Danny Woodburn (Mickey from Seinfeld) as one of the dwarves.

What really makes the film special, though, is the art direction and the costume design in particular. This was designer Eiko Ishioka’s final film, and she managed to surpass her work on Singh’s The Fall. All the clothes are exquisite – the massive dresses are sumptuous and detailed, in rich colours.

Mirror Mirror won’t change your life, but for all little (and big) princesses out there it is a delightful confection.

Film review - The Avengers

It has taken five films to get to this point – the backstories of the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America have all been fleshed out separately and now they are to be brought together to form a superhero gang. Somehow it still takes this film a while to get going, but when it does it really soars.

Loki, Thor’s adopted brother, comes to Earth and steals the Tesseract (a magical power cube) from S.H.I.E.L.D (a powerful espionage agency). S.H.I.E.L.D’s leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) gathers together some of the world’s greatest heroes to retrieve the Tesseract and defeat Loki’s army of aliens.

The lengthy set up before the big battle involves a lot of waiting around on S.H.I.E.L.D’s hellicarrier, but luckily the audience is waiting around with some great characters and a script by Joss Whedon. The comic tone set by the Iron Man films continues here, and Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark is still a hoot. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is hilariously serious, and Captain America (Chris Evans) is also nicely confused by 21st century Earth. Even Scarlett Johansson isn’t awful as the Black Widow, doing a lot of nice double crossing.

The final battle is spectacular, if a little long. A huge amount of destruction takes place as the aliens attack Manhatten (which will always be less fun to watch than it was pre-2001), with the Hulk, Iron Man and Thor doing the heavy lifting, while the Black Widow and Hawkeye basically lend moral support.

Out of all the preceding films, Thor was the most silly, and The Avengers unfortunately uses that film’s main villain. Not that Tom Hiddleston isn’t good as Loki, or that the other possible villains are realistic and sensible, it’s just that after the first Avengers film we’ve already had a Norse god leading an army of angry aliens. Where do you go from here?

All in all the first Avengers film is certainly worth the price of admission – great one-liners married with decent action and excellent performances. Frivilous fun for superhero fans.

Film review - The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists

Aardman Animation’s first 3D film is a strange tale of plundering on the high seas. Although fun, it is not quite rollicking enough to be a classic.

Set in an imaginary version of 1837 where piracy is still a problem and every famous person from the 19th century is alive and in their prime, this is a surreal take on the popular pirate story. The film follows the Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) and his band of “say what you see”-named pirates (the Pirate with Gout, the Albino Pirate, and – my favourite – the Suprisingly Curvaceous Pirate) as he tries to win the Pirate of the Year competition. On the way they meet a young Charles Darwin and have a run in with Queen Victoria, who really hates pirates.

Aardman films always have a lot of charm, and again The Pirates! has loads of little details – both in the backgrounds and the script – that firmly show its British roots and elevate it above the rest. The trouble is that the story and the characters just aren’t that memorable.

Film review - The Artist

So I’ve finally seen The Artist, after all the hype and the Oscar wins, and I wasn’t blown away. Sure, it is nice and well made, and obviously has a central gimmick that makes it stand out from the crowd, but this is a feather-weight confection.

The film opens in 1927, and George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie star at the top of his game. He helps ingénue dancer Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) get noticed by the studios. As silence gives way to the talkies, their careers take different paths.

Two things surprised me. Firstly, although this is a French-made film it is set in Hollywood and the silent lines are all spoken in English. This seems slightly strange considering every country had a silent film industry that had to adjust to sound, but I suppose it does make financial sense to set it in America. And you get to have people like John Goodman in it without making them mouth French lines. Secondly, it wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be. The dog was cute, and it was mildly amusing at times, but I was expecting more slapstick or something. There weren’t many laughs.

Having said that, Dujardin is excellent in the role. Bearing a more than passing resemblance to William Powell (who interestingly was one of the few silent film actors to have a successful career after the introduction of sound) he looks very much of the time and has such a hammy, expressive face. Bejo is all eyes and smile, and is adorable.

Basically, it could be 20 minutes shorter and a bit funnier. If you buy into the romance of the silent era, I’m sure you will love this. I, on the other hand, was a little bored, and really if I’m going to be a bit bored watching a silent film, I’d rather take my medicine and watch an actual old one. Obviously I don’t want to sit through Battleship Potemkin, but I know I ought to.

Film review - The Muppets

This new Muppets film is quite different from the Christmas Carol or Treasure Island adaptations we became used to in the nineties, wonderful though those were. It’s a post-modern take on the children’s film that also manages to go back to the group’s roots.

As the film opens, the Muppets have been largely forgotten by the public and have gone their separate ways – in this reality it seems as if The Muppets Show was their only success, and that finished in 1981. When an evil oil baron (Chris Cooper) threatens to take over their old theatre, they must put on a benefit show to stop him. Their biggest fans, Gary (Jason Segal, who also wrote the script), Mary (the wonderful Amy Adams) and Walter (a Fabricated American, to use the Greg the Bunny terminology), are ready to help.

This uber-hackneyed storyline – used in everything from The Blues Brothers to Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo – is played openly as a cliche. It’s just a McGuffin for all the fun, and there is a lot of fun to be had. Movie tropes are skewered in surreal fashion, there are great cameos at every turn, and the songs are weird, joyous creations (from The Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie).

Adults who can remember The Muppets Show will be happy to see all the old gang back together again. And I mean “all”, as some quite minor characters are featured heavily. Sadly my first Muppet experience was Muppet Babies during Going Live (I know, weep for those in their late twenties), so a lot of this went over my head. My only other minor gripe is that there isn’t enough Kermit and Miss Piggy, who seem to be slightly on the sidelines while Gary, Walter and Mary take centre stage. You can’t keep a good frog or pig down, though, and their charisma shines through.

Muppets make people smile, and when combined with comedy talent like this, they make people smile from ear to ear.