12. Filth (2013), Director - Jon S. Baird

It is a great testament to the acting skills of James McAvoy that he manages to install some sense of empathy in us for his character in Filth, police detective Bruce Robertson.With a different and lesser actor this could have been an absolute nightmare to watch because watching humanity sink to the lowest depths can make for very uncomfortable viewing. But McAvoy keeps us hoping against ourselves that redemption is possible, that this person doing awful things (and hinting at a dark past as well) could somehow find peace of mind and happiness. 

In typical Irvine Welsh style, Filth is a brutal portrait of a feral Edinburgh where violence, drugs and abuse are everyday occurrences. Bruce plays his games, trying to land a promotion for himself by preying on the weaknesses of his colleagues. There is not a trick too low for him to pull, and no one is safe from them. He keeps at these games as he sinks further and further into hallucinations visualizing himself and everyone around him as nightmarish animals, and struggling with old memories ripe with guilt.

The story hangs together well, the soundtrack is excellent, the edit is slick and the cast has a few names in it, including a coke-snorting Jaime Bell (who played Billy Elliot) and Jim Broadbent who recently just seems to be in everything. For a film like this there are actually also quite a diversity of roles for women, be it Imogeen Poots as the only decent cop in the bunch, Shauna MacDonald as impossibly modelesque wife Carole, Joanne Frogett as the grief-stricken Mary, Kate Dickie as tough-dominatrix-y Chrissie or Shirley Henderson as birdlike dirty-talking Bunty. The film won’t pass the Bechdel test but it is certainly refreshing to see so many women having distinct characters. It is certainly a man’s world being depicted but with a distance where you as a viewer are - we sincerely hope - supposed to be disgusted by this, as well as the police brutality and abuse of authority (and many, many, MANY other things). In contrast, a shout out should go to Eddie Marsan for adding a bit of innocence to the proceedings.

With prejudice of every type to the fore, this story holds no punches and does a great job of deconstructing the bigotry within the characters. A tough guy yob* declaring that “Pussy’s fer faggots!” made us laugh. It is not for the faint of heart, but it does have its merits, and it isn’t quite as depressing as past films we’ve seen (*cough* Killer Joe *cough*). Oh, and don’t read anything about it, not even the back of the box before viewing and it will surprise you more!

Will it make it into the cupboard? No, but we can see people liking it.

* a yob is the antithesis of what a good boy should be - rude, obnoxious, violent and stupid

11. Barney's Version (2010), Director - Richard J. Lewis

Right off the bat, we need to point out that the acting in this film is superb. Mellow yet strong Rosamund Pike; Dustin Hoffman, the sympathetic father; and Minnie Driver, well, she just works in everything she does. And of course Paul Giamatti, who deserves every one of his accolades as the lead, Barney Panofsky. He manages to pull off one of the greatest challenges an actor faces, playing different ages of the same character (kudos must go to the make-up team here too), and he plays a character that is all at once spiteful, charming, confident and vulnerable. He is, above all, human.

It’s beautifully set and the pace is just as serene, but by the end of the film, we were not quite sure how to react. It felt like we had just witnessed a really good film, but we were left wondering, “what was the point?”

The intrigue is presented to us early on. An aging successful, but bitter, TV exec, Barney, has been in the news due to a book written about his role in the murder of one of his best friends. The exposé has been written by the detective in charge of the case where Barney has plainly walked away a free man. “Ahaaa”, one thinks, “we are now going to get ‘Barney’s Version’ of events and find out the truth about this crime!” We are then whisked away, in the first of many flashbacks, to 1970s Rome and Barney hanging out with a group of artists and bohemians. Curiously though, the initial intrigue mainly takes a backseat to what becomes, essentially, just a tableaux of Barney’s life.

On picking this up in the shop, Fraser saw words on the box like “comedy” and “love of his life” and “Paul Giamatti” and thought fondly of Sideways. But this only has gentle, slightly creepy, romance in it and it is a hard push to call it a comedy in any way (the occasional funny remark is surely not enough or everything would be deemed a comedy!).

The characters feel very real, yet there is little to relate to as the vast majority of the film is about a very affluent set of people, and while Barney comes from humble beginnings (his dad was just a “beat-cop”) we only get vague reference to them. He still gets his big break through a family member which hardly makes it a from-rags-to-riches story. This film is based on a novel, and we wonder if possibly the film adaptation suffers from a lack of inner dialogue; something to further explain the motivations of this character and to give us a hint on the meaning of this story.

Fraser was really looking forward to this one, but with no clear defining theme and no real message it just falls flat. It feels like we’ve just sat looking a really pretty picture for two hours. We suppose that it could be seen as something ambiguous, the rambling journey itself is the thing, but unfortunately for us, it is likely to end up being pretty forgettable. Does that mean we will have to keep it in the cupboard to remind us of the events of Barney Panofsky’s life?

Does it make it into the cupboard? No. Just can’t imagine wanting to watch it again.

10. Den skaldede frisør (2012), Director - Susanne Bier

Ida is a hairdresser battling cancer, living in a box-like house together with her buffoon of a husband Leif. At the airport on the way to her daughter’s wedding in Italy she bumps into Philip, a widower jerk who lives in what looks like an optical illusion. Although this is their first meeting, Ida’s daughter and Philip’s son are set to get married in Italy, and when the two families meet things get explosive in more ways than one. 

This is like a Danish Mamma Mia (the beautiful setting, Pierce Brosnan, drama unfolding at a wedding between two very young people), and as such obviously packs a bit more of a punch than your average American saccharin love story. There will be nudity, booze, a bit of fighting and ample opportunity for Paula to turn on her gaydar.

There is a lot of cringe-worthy humour in the self-centered cruelty of supporting characters Leif (Kim Bodnia) and Benedikte (Paprika Steen), though some of the situations get a bit over the top for us. The children, Astrid and Patrick have a bittersweet story and you can feel their youth, joy and naivety disappearing throughout the film. Apart from the main theme about letting go and choosing life there are themes centering around parents and children, with examples of both healthy relationships and toxic, that gives us, as parents, plenty of inspiration when it comes to what not to do….

But the real star of the film is Trine Dyrholm who gives Ida tons of character and charisma. She has an amazingly expressive face and eyes, and she makes the film watchable whether you like romantic comedies or not. Pierce Brosnan as Philip gets the job done, and once you’ve seen the whole film there are explanations for some of the more jarring acting choices in the beginning. His charm is probably also appealing to some, but Paula is still cringing with the memory of his singing in that other rom-com set by the Med!

Overall a good watch, but does it make it into the cupboard?  No - but it only just fails to cross the finishing line.

The Next Installment!

Well, it’s been a little while since we posted anything, but rest assured, we have still been watching films. However, life, the universe and The Walking Dead can sometimes get in the way.

We’ve had to break the rules a little and shuffle Zero Dark Thirty down the pile as it held us up for a while - we have no time for two and a half hour epics at the moment, unfortunately. A few of our favourite series have started up again too. But our goal of watching all 43 by sometime in the summer remains the same and the next batch of reviews are on their way. We haven’t watched anything quite as cripplingly dire as Revenge for Jolly!, nor anything as savoir faire as All About Eve, but the films we have watched and the remaining pile of DVDs stacked in the corner of the living room remain an eclectic bunch in every way with there likely to be a bit of something for everyone!!

So watch out for the next review coming to a screen near you!