BELFAST

 Jamie Dornan     Caitriona Balfe     Jude Hill

Ciaran Hinds     Judi Dench     Lewis McAskin

            This new film admirably directed by Kenneth Branagh is notable for its black and white screen (cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos, who also filmed Locke) and poignant events going on in Belfast in 1969, the beginning of Northern Ireland’s 30-year “Troubles.”  Highlighting a typical family living in the region, the film depicts torn loyalties and dilemmas about what citizens could/should do.  

            Most of the drama centers around young Buddy (Hill) whom everyone knows and cries out to as he walks down the street.  We see much of the drama through his most expressive eyes.  His father works out of town and is gone for periodic stretches, so it is up to the wife/mother (Balfe) to hold the family together, albeit with the loving (sometimes humorous) support of grandparents played by Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench.  Who wouldn’t love those grandparents(!), particularly given that they have a warranted skeptical view of the world they live in.  

            The big dilemma posed for the family is whether to remain in Belfast where both parents’ families have lived since the parents were toddlers, where everyone in their neighborhood knows them and looks out for the kids, or whether to move to London where their standard of living would be much improved.  This was apparently a common issue for so many in Northern Ireland during that time.  The film captures well the violence in the area and threats to residents to join one side or the other.

            Branagh’s direction is expert and sure with the overall tone of the picture, the cast, and the decision to go with a black and white view, both visually and metaphorically.  Jude Hill as the young son appears to be destined for great things in his ability to express naturally so much of what Buddy was experiencing.  I liked in this movie that children are depicted in a way most of us would recognize—thoughtful but still child-like.  The actors playing the adults—Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hinds, and Judi Dench—are quintessential performers who will always capture our interest.  They’re entertaining to watch in whatever roles they play.

            It was also great to see a movie that is less than two hours long.  Certain events could have been extended to draw out the emotional impact (as so many filmmakers do nowadays), but I appreciated the meaningful brevity in this instance.  

 

The “Troubles” in Ireland are portrayed in a skilled rendition of what happened to individuals and families caught up in the conflict.

 

Grade:  A                              By Donna R. Copeland

A PRIVATE WAR

Rosamund Pike     Jamie Dornan     Tom Hollander     Stanley Tucci

     I don’t know if other people will have the same experience in watching this film as I did, but to me it was like listening to television news stories from Sri Lanka, Iraq, Aphganistan, Libya, and Syria one after the other, highlighting mangled, bloodied bodies and cries of misery.  Our heroine, Marie Colvin—a journalist and real person—(played eloquently by Rosamund Pike) seems to be drawn to war zones, even as she hates them.  She says at one point, “In covering war, can we really make a difference?”  In her own mind, that is what she is about, trying to get the world to care.  And she is successful, at least in her editor’s mind, when he compliments her:  “You have the God-given talent to make people stop and care.”  I wish the story had moved me to a greater extent, but it didn’t, which I will address below.

     We first get a bit of background on Marie, at home in London with her husband David, a professor/novelist, when she is early in her career.  He makes a comment about her being away from home so much, and clearly doesn’t appreciate the passion she has for her work.  When she gets seriously injured in Sri Lanka and begins showing signs of PTSD, he tries to get her to change directions.  But after a stint in a mental hospital, in a couple of years she is headed to Iraq.

     That is where she will meet the photographer Paul Conroy (Dornan), who is awed by her and eventually becomes a devoted partner in covering war stories.  He sticks with her throughout, being a kind of protector (which she allows it) and pal.  They end up in Libya during the Arab Spring, and meet with Gaddafi—whom she has met before—and she asks him hard questions, which he responds to with heart and humor.  

     By this time, Marie is showing signs of serious alcohol problems and issues with Sean, her editor (Hollander).  She has met someone who—if anyone could—inspire her to rest on her laurels, but at this point, Sean tries to reel her in to continue.  She comes back with the argument that what she does protects him (and her readers).  “I see it so you don’t have to”, she says; whereupon Sean comes back with, “But if you lose your convictions, what hope do the rest of us have?”  That kind of guilt trip will always get to Marie, and she travels on to Syria and Assad’s bombing of civilians there.  

     I was taken with director Matthew Heineman’s previous films, which were documentaries: Cartel Land, City of Ghosts.  Here, he attempts to dramatize Marie Colvin’s life (based on Marie Brenner’s article in “Vanity Fair” magazine, with a screenplay by Arash Amel) as a gutsy, committed journalist whose life-long wish was to appeal to populations of the world to help those in desperate need.  But, surprisingly, the film doesn’t leave the viewer with a clear understanding of Marie herself.  Why did she keep chasing war stories to the point that it was almost—if not in fact—suicidal?  Did her editor, Sean Ryan (Hollander), try to keep her out of harm’s way—until the sensational story became more important?  Nor does the film pull us in emotionally so that we’re cheering at the end.  No, it’s missing the heart and soul that his documentaries captured so well.

     That being said, Pike’s performance is flawless and moving throughout.  She clearly understood and appreciated the character of Marie Colvin, in ways that I could not in seeing this film.

This is about recent wars and intended as an anti-war film.

Grade:  C+                                     By Donna R. Copeland

FIFTY SHADES DARKER (2)

Jamie Dornan     Dakota Johnson     Eric Johnson     Marcia Gay Harden     Rita Ora     Kim Basinger     Bella Heathcote

     In Fifty Shades of Grey, Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) is wooed by Christian Grey (Dornan), but flees from him when he demonstrates—at her request—the limits of his taste for BDSM.  It’s too much for her.  Fifty Shades Darker opens with his begging her to come back to him, indicating that he has changed—or is at least trying to be better—and that he will do anything to get her back.  She has clearly moved on, including having a new job that she loves; but she finds that his pleas are irresistible.  She agrees to have dinner with him to talk about her concerns.

     Not much comes from this; she indicates that their reuniting must go slowly, and that there be “no rules, no punishments, and no secrets.”  He agrees to anything she requests, but it is clear from the outset that his underlying character is still the same.  He has high control needs, is bossy, and wants her to be submissive toward him outside the bedroom.  In the bedroom he pretty much defers to her.  But like many women, Anastasia finds it hard to assert herself and maintain boundaries. 

     And this is the biggest fault of the movie to me:  It completely departs from modern women’s goals of achieving self-confidence, an effective independent identity, and equal status with men.  The movie flirts with these ideas in showing Anastasia moving up in her profession and becoming the fiction editor at her publishing company.  But uh-oh, Christian has bought the company and fired her boss Jack (Eric Johnson), so she moves up to his place. Granted, it was after a sexual harassment incident, but still, it was Christian who enabled her promotion.  Moreover, the character of Anastasia is wimpy and self-effacing (“Who, me?”  “I can’t steer a boat.”  “I am nothing.”) in many different situations in the film.  So we have the stereotypical arrangement of a “man in charge” with a submissive woman. 

     Another fault of the Fifty Shades Darker is a hackneyed script with lines spoken as if they had deep meaning (“I know how difficult it is for you to open up to me, but it means the world to me” and “I thought I lost you forever”) (Niall Leonard, screenplay; E. L. James, novel).  Although the title of the film suggests something more, i.e., “Darker”, the plot adheres fairly closely with the previous film.  In fact, it’s a bit tamer.

     The acting is up to par, especially when Marcia Gay Harden and Kim Basinger are in scenes, but their characters should have been better fleshed out.  Director James Foley, whose experience has primarily been in television, will need to make the next film in the Fifty Shades series more movie-like than an episodic television show.  Danny Elfman’s music and John Schwartzman’s cinematography are probably the best parts of the film.

Rather than darker, I would say this is fifty shades worse than its predecessor.

Grade:  D By Donna R. Copeland

ANTHROPOID

Cillian Murphy     Jamie Dornan     Toby Jones     Marcin Dorocinski     Charlotte Le Bon     Anna Geislerova     Jirí Simek

          Anthropoid is a ghastly account based on the Allies’ secret plan in World War II to assassinate the “Butcher of Prague”, Reinhard Heydrich (Detlef Bothe), who was the leader of the Nazi forces occupying Czechoslovakia in the early days of the war.  Hedrich was Adolf Hitler’s third in command who had designed the Final Solution meant to complete the Nazi effort to exterminate the Jewish people.  Self-exiled Czech and Slovak soldiers Josef Gabcik (Murphy) and Jan Kubis (Dornan) were charged by the British government and the exiled Czech government officials in London to carry out the assassination. 

           It’s an extremely dangerous mission since the Nazis had all but wiped out the Czech resistance, but Gabcik and Kubis were able to connect with two who were still operating, Uncle Hajsky (Jones) and Ladislav Vanek (Dorocinski).  Vanek was openly against the mission from the beginning, and tried numerous times to get Gabcik and Kubis to abandon the plan. Two others initially opposed, but who ultimately helped were two women, Marie (Le Bon) and Lenka (Geislerová).  They were asked to pair with the men when they went out, to lessen the suspicion that a lone man would arouse. 

          The men were given a room in the Moravec household and carefully mapped out the habits of Hedrich, who was to be killed on his way from home to the Prague Castle in a Mercedes convertible.  He liked to ride with the top down to make a statement about the successfulness of the German occupation.  Gabcik was to jump into the street to shoot him when the car slowed to make a curve, and Kubis would be ready with hand grenades for backup.  Karel Curda (Simek) another resistance operative was to be further backup, but he turned out to be unreliable.

         The film shows the operation in vivid detail, as well as the horrendous aftermath, which the Nazis were so enraged about, they wiped out two villages (wrongly tied to the operation) and killed or sent to concentration camps over 5,000 men, women and children.  The final standoff takes place in a church that was harboring Gabcik and Kubis and a number of other parachutists needing protection, with the Czechs showing uncommon bravery in trying to fight off an army of Nazi soldiers storming the church after a tip from a traitor.

        Anthropoid, co-written with Anthony Fresin by director Sean Ellis presents a very graphic account of a bloody, torturous time during the war, which reminds us of how plans hatched far away from the battle scene can have far-reaching, perhaps unpredictable, consequences.  It also reminds us of how bravely men can fight when the stakes are so high our basic freedoms are jeopardized.

        Murphy and Dornan carry the bulk of the show with their excellent acting skills, showing all the emotions and thought that can roil inside a person under such circumstances.  Le Bon, Geislerová, Jones, Dorocinski, and Simek provide quality support in their roles.  Another shout-out is deserved by Ellis, who served as cinematographer of the film, along with his other roles as writer and director.  Chaotic battle scenes are clear and easy to follow visually, and there’s a nice balance between black and white and vivid colors.

A brutal account of a dark time in Czechoslovakia during WWII.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE 9TH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX

Jamie Dornan   Sarah Gadon   Aaron Paul   Beckham Skodje   Aiden Longworth   Barbara Hershey   Oliver Platt

          Poor Louis (Skodje).  He is accident-prone even from birth, and escapes one close call after another—which he can chronicle in complete detail—then it looks like death finally holds him in its grasp after he falls off a cliff into the ocean.  Louis’ mother Natalie (Gadon) is an attractive blonde who is attentive and caring, and even though his parents quarrel frequently, Louis is close to his father Peter (Paul) as well.  They’re on a picnic for Louis’ 9^th birthday when his parents begin to quarrel and suddenly there is a terrible accident, after which, Louis is taken to the hospital in a coma and his father disappears.

          Louis narrates most of the picture, so we stay in touch with him throughout the film, which opens with him as a young man (Longworth) giving a TED talk.  After that, the story is told in flashback, which involves Louis’ mother, his father, his physician Dr. Pascal (Dornan), and his therapist (Platt).

          Max Minghella has stitched together a mysterious, exciting thriller based on the novel by Liz Jensen.  It has repeated twists, turns and surprises, as well as a bit of sci-fi in a zombie-like figure and in forensic hypnosis.  Alexandre Aja’s direction keeps a good pace, and although the story jumps back and forth in time, it is not as confusing as that sometimes is in films. 

          Beckham Skodje as the young Louis is expressive and convincing, speaking his lines crisply like a precocious child.  His responses to his therapist impress you and make you chuckle at his insight and creativity.  Sarah Gadon brings some of the sexiness and fragility that she shows in the soon-to-be-released Indignation to this role, where in both, the character’s whole story only emerges gradually.  Jamie Dornan as a young, committed physician who is still trying to figure himself out conveys the earnestness and susceptibility required of his role, and Aaron Paul is perfect as an ambiguous character you have conflicting feelings about.  Almost stealing the limelight is Oliver Platt, whose approach to psychotherapy is noteworthy for its quality—a rarity in film, maybe because its writers and director are European rather than Hollywood types.

          9^th Life holds your attention hostage throughout, with just enough of a dash of sci-fi to give it a bit of quirkiness. 

An eventful 9^th life for one young Louis Drax.

Grade:  A-                        By Donna R. Copeland