A Serious Man

// January 21st, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Film Reviews

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This week I watched A Serious Man (Coen brothers, 2009) and I’m still turning it around in my head and puzzling over aspects of the film. I enjoyed it at first viewing and have found that my enjoyment of it has increased in the hours that followed and with the luxury of reflection. However, I can see why some viewers would find watching it a frustrating and unsatisfying way to spend 2 hours. This review is full of plot spoilers and also probably won’t make complete sense if you haven’t seen the film.
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Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In)

// April 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Film Reviews

Beautifully shot, brilliantly acted and impressively directed, this gem of a picture is a thoroughly engaging “horror” story that brings a genuinely original twist to the vampire genre. Set in the early eighties, when Brezhnev’s Soviet Union still cast ominous shadows, it cleverly uses imaginary monsters to highlight real ones. Screenwriter John Lindqvist adapts his 2004 novel of the same name in which a strange, introverted 12-year-old boy named Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) lives with his single mother in a bleak apartment block on the outskirts of Stockholm. Fascinated by newspaper accounts of violent crimes and relentlessly bullied at school, Oskar does not have many friends, indulging instead in violent Travis Bickle-esque (“are you looking at me?”) revenge fantasies. Things change dramatically for Oskar when a 12-year-old girl called Eli (Lina Leandersson) moves in next door with what initially appears to be her father. Eli is scruffy, strange and sometimes smells bad. Oh yes, and she goes out only at night.
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Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d’enfants

// June 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // Film Reviews

The direct English translation for this film is “They married and had lots of children”, however in the US it is given the title “Happily Ever After”. Released in 2004 and starring director Yvan Attal, his real-life wife Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Alain Cohen and Emmanuelle Seigner; this turned out to be a truly likeable gem of a film.

It revolves, in a Woody Allen-esque sort of a way, around the married lives of Vincent (Attal) and Georges (Chabat) and the life of their single friend, Fred (Cohen). The two married men, frustrated by the restrictions marriage and family have placed upon their lives, look on with envy as their unremarkable looking friend seduces a succession of beautiful women, sometimes twice in one day. (more…)

16 Years of Alcohol

// May 12th, 2008 // No Comments » // Film Reviews

Released in 2003 and produced for a budget of something like £400,000, 16 Years of Alcohol is the directorial feature film début of ex-Skids frontman, ex-male model and ex-TV presenter Richard Jobson. I’ve seen this film twice in as many years now and I’ll have a stab at reviewing it …

Jobson has adapted the film from his own semi-autobiographical book of the same name. I cannot pass comment on the book as I have never read it, nor have I seen it for sale anywhere, but it was described as a “prose poem” on the BBC website. This description comes as no surprise to me as I do get the impression that Jobson may have a tendency towards the ostentatiously artistic. Nonetheless, despite having some notable flaws, 16 years of Alcohol is still rather a good film.
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Lars and the Real Girl

// May 9th, 2008 // No Comments » // Film Reviews

A lonely, pathologically shy and socially paralysed 27 year old man orders a life-sized, anatomically correct sex doll from the internet and forms a relationship with her. Does that sound like a story you’d like to spend an evening exploring? If not, you may find that your initial scepticism fades as this well crafted and intelligent film progresses.

Written by regular Six Feet Under contributor Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie (Mr. Woodcock), Lars and the Real Girl never veers into the vulgarity or lewdness that such a storyline might lead toward and turns out to be really quite warm-hearted and touching. (more…)