Brick Lane (2007) Dir.Sarah Gavron

Morbid, morbid and morbid.

These are the words to describe Brick Lane. Adapted into a film from the critically acclaimed novel by Monica Ali, Brick Lane the film has many flaws. Nazneem, a Bangladeshi young woman arrives in 1980s London, leaving her beloved sister behind to enter an arranged marriage.

After witnessing her simple and beautiful life back in her village, with the exception of her mother's suicide, Nazneem is married to an overweight, sexist man whom finds comforts with quoting from pioneers such as Ghandi. However, the character of her husband is a complex one and redeems himself when he speaks about Islam being in his heart rather than a political out cry.

The film tackles a number of issues; Nazneem's experience of a culture shock in London to the endless meaning of love through the sexual awakening in a repressed Muslim woman.

Nazneem meets a young man whom she develops strong feelings for and she quickly finds herself having an affair. She puts a stop to it when she finds out that her sister is a lost cause back home as well as being promiscuous. She sees herself in her sisters mistakes and rejects her love for this young man. There is an interesting sequence when Nazneem is cleaning her husbands toenails and she stares at the television. >Brief Encounter(1945) is playing in the background; is this a modern day notion of the romantic drama?

The answer? Perhaps. The 9/11 attacks have happened and Britain is under rapid change, Brick Lane is not at all quiet in representing this important issue. Nazneem's lover develops a beard and starts wearing religious clothing as a means to identify himself and support his people. Her husband begins to grow weaker within himself and the increase of racism is evident.

The film feels unfinished, forced and claustrophobic.

On the other hand, there are many beautiful sequences, especially after Nazneem makes love with the young man. The light she prayed so hard for finally shines on her face and it's wonderful to see. Cinematically, Brick Lane is a piece of art.

The film is pretty much plot-less, it has a lack of strong characters and it also doesn't have a particularly strong message. The ending of the film is irritating as it promotes the idea of immigrants being helpless dreamers, which is by far a terrible bracket to be placed in.

The film is full of beautiful quotes that make me think the book was wonderful. These include;

"The test of life is to endure"

I did manage to endure this film and found myself confused and immensely disappointed. The book however, I have yet to review.

4/10

The Player (1992) Dir. Robert Altman

If you want to know all about the dark side of the Hollywood film industry, then The Player is the film for you. Not only is it informative it's also highly imaginative and has an excellent cast.

The opening of the film is inspired by Orson Wells' Touch of Evil (1958), the voyeuristic camera work almost hints that there is a sort of moral God watching everything that is going on.

The saddest message that the camera work reflects is that this God, is a fickle one. Leaving the chaos alone and merely just watching, perhaps for entertainment value.

The plot is as follows; An ambitious movie executive starts receiving death threats from an angry writer whom he had brushed off in the past. This becomes the execs nagging moral conscience throughout the film.

In order for the exec to keep his professional life safe, he murders a writer whom he suspects is sending him the letters. The exec is in utter panic when he receives another letter informing him he killed the wrong guy.

In exchange the exec promises the mysterious writer that he will make his film, in return for his silence about the murder he has committed. As the film progresses the audience quickly comes to terms with the idea of the obsession with greed in Hollywood. Our exec looses his morality completely and settles down with the dead writers partner.

The screenplay in The Player is wonderfully witty with lines like;

"I was just thinking what an interesting concept it is to eliminate the writer from the artistic process. If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we've got something here."

---

Misery (1990) Dir. Rob Reiner

Kathy Bates gives her best performance yet as the seemingly average yet psychotic, Annie Wilkes.

Best selling novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) has a car accident and is rescued by
his biggest fan, Annie. The film takes place in the middle of nowhere snow filled town in the mid east of America.

When Paul finally awakes, he finds himself on a bed in Annie's house. All seems fine as she explains she is a nurse and that as soon as the roads are open she will drive him to a hospital.

Annie starts to show her true colours when she finds out Paul kills off one of the main characters in his novel. She demands he writes a new novel and gets him to burn a new manuscript which he has been working on due to the foul language.

The filming matures as the film goes on, adopting for a more Kubrick style of representing this psychological horror film. The close up's of Annie's face in the dark, the odd pauses in between conversations and the eerie room which quickly becomes his prison.

The film is based on Stephen King's novel and this adaptation is perfect for the screen, you will not be able to take your eyes off the film.

One of the reasons the film is so great is due to James Caan being so terrible at playing Paul Sheldon. On the other hand, however much bland his performance is in comparison to Kathy Bates, it highlights the sheer madness of Annie Wilkes.

Misery is a must see, it has a simple plot line and proves that Psychological Horrors must make a come back.

It doesn't take much, throw in a seemingly normal situation and put a microscope over it to unravel the dark side of an individual stuck in the suburbs with nothing to do but obsess.

Brief Encounter Dir. David Lean (1945)

David Lean's Brief Encounter is a classic romantic drama set in 1945 during World War Two and takes place at the fictional, Milford railway station. Married woman; Laura (Ceclia Johnson) meets a Doctor (Trevor Howard) whom is also married. Their meeting is traditionally romantic, the helpless Laura gets a piece of grit in her eye and the Doctor kindly removes it.

After the incident, Laura and the Doctor randomly meet again and start to develop feelings of love for each other. The dilemma however begins early on in the film, from the start in fact, Laura's voice over shows the audience how she isn't satisfied with her life and we follow her through her repetitive routines; going shopping for the family, seeing a film and run ins with the town's gossip queen.

The film is an outstanding piece of British film and Cecila Johnson has the perfect face for the emotional, thoughtful and guilty Laura. The close up's of her face in various scenes are mesmerising as is the screenplay.

However, the film ends with the celebration of marriage when Laura returns home to her dutiful husband but the sheer excellence of Lean's adaption still remains to be timeless.

I've Loved You So Long (2008) Dir. Phillipe Claudel

COMING SOON . . .

The Vanishing (1988) dir. George Sluizer... Thriller?

The Vanishing (1988) by George Sluizer is a French film and is classed as a thriller; however there are many aspects to the film which challenge the typical 'thriller' genre. This will form a substantial part of my post.

First of all, the audience sees the entire film through Rex's point of view (the protagonist) as well as Raymond's point of view (the antagonist). This is very rare in thriller films and forms an objective view on the issue at hand.

The plot is as follows; Dutch holiday makers Saskia and Rex decide to make a trip, all seems well till Saskia disappears at the busy gas station in broad day light. The long search for her fate and whereabouts begins.

The constant delay of Saskia's vanishing increases the dramatic tension. At the beginning, Rex returns to his car in the tunnel and Saskia isn't there, we soon discover she is at the end of the tunnel. This provides a sly hint that a vanishing will occur very soon and promotes the film as a thriller.

In thrillers, such as American Psycho, the killer is constantly represented as evil, through their bizarre characteristics or odd appearance, leads us to label them as the antagonist.

However, in The Vanishing Raymond appears normal, he is a family man and has a respectable job as a chemistry teacher (which is ironic as one can argue he is doing an experiment with Saskia and Rex).

It is his perfectionism which stands out, his strict rules in his classroom and his dominating nature towards his wife and daughters. His neatly cut sandwiches also add to suspicions that he may have a neurosis. His perfectionist personality is put to use when Raymond begins preparing the abduction, we see him calculating the distance it will take to lure a passed out woman to his holiday home.
We are even shown how he tests out the possibility that his victim may scream and he cleverly uses his family to test this out by provoking them to play a screaming game.

The development of Raymond's character is presented in an awkward and chilling manner. We even begin to feel comfortable with him and understand his reasons for kidnapping Saskia, due to his philosophical explanations.

The fact that we understand Raymond and his actions shows us that anyone can do these things, worst of all the audience's view on morality is challenged.

The Vanishing goes against typical thrillers in a number of ways; there is an absence of a sexual motive. Rex asks Raymond is he has raped Saskia and through Raymond's expression, the audience can sense he is somewhat insulted and shocked by the question. This makes the motive even more twisted as he is treating people like ingredients to play out in his own experiment (like his chemistry lessons).

The antagonist also remains calm and self aware from the start to the end. He is aware of the reality of the situation he has created and explains his reasons to Rex in an honest and polite manner. Rex begins to use the same words as Raymond at one sequence, this is disturbing as it shows that not only is the audience familiar and forming an odd bond with Raymond, so is Rex.

The main aspect of the film that does not adhere to typical thrillers is the constant symbolism of the golden egg. The golden egg represented first through Saskia's explanation of her dream, then the yellow Frisbee, the torch lights at the end of the tunnel, the flame and both of Saskia and Rex's clothes are yellow. The symbol is mystical and imaginative; it provokes the idea that one can never escape their fate. The fate of both Rex and Saskia is eternal isolation.

At the end of the film the golden symbol comes into play as the shot of the oval shaped newspaper pictures of Rex and Saskia are present. Blackness drowns the screen and the credits begin rolling. The audience is left without the slightest crumb of comfort, instead we are presented with the idea of an eternal void, two lovers destined to fly parallel in separate eggs and never to meet again.

An immense sense of eternal torment and loneliness is projected here.

The Vanishing is an art house film and even though it has similar qualities to a typical thriller it contains symbolism which makes it original. It provokes the idea that our lives are controlled eternally by fate and that in some cases it's not all good willed. George Sluizer made a Hollywood re-make of The Vanishing (1993)which stripped the art house qualities and instead opted for a traditional B-type thriller film. I urge you to watch both of them and compare.

Film Review of W. (2008) dir. Oliver Stone

The masses can release a huge sigh, now that we know the US has Obama as President and Republican rule is over. W. is a biopic of the life and psychology of George W Bush. The film opens and closes in an empty baseball stadium and the film does not go further to showing the audience that Bush had once owned it.

Instead, the baseball stadium acts as a metaphor to ironically represent how the ball never returns back to Bush in his quest for self-gratification due to a troublesome relationship with his father.

One can instantly presume that in years to come, this film will be shown to pupils in history class. It offers a peep hole through the failure of the Bushes and the Republicans. Oliver Stone adopts a sympathetic point of view upon Bush, which at times can be frustrating but never the less it is a unique point of view.

The only downfall of the film is the character of Tony Blair, played by Ioan Gruffadd. His performance is ridiculous and very short, the only similarity between him and Blair is the pathetic facial expression of confusion and desperation. Even so, the placement of Blair in W. seems meaningless and a waste of time.

Josh Brolin is perfect at playing George W Bush; his awkward pauses in between speeches, his manic Southern way of eating, his adolescent posture and the squinted eyes, all add up to fooling the audience that this really is the real W. Brolin is clearly giving his best performance yet and is not at all irritating in the process.

The extra diajetic sound of the Robin Hood theme song runs throughout the film which adds to the irony. Thandi Newton as Condoleezza Rice is unrecognisable. However she merely acts as a statue in the film and hardly ever steps up to the almighty Bush.

The film jumps back and fourth in time from W college years to his Presidency. His alcohol problems forms a substantial part of the film.

By the end of watching W. the question still remains, how on earth did this man manage to get in power?

CARAMEL (2007) dir. Nadine Labaki

The film follows the fortunes and misfortunes of five women working in a beauty salon in Beruit. Instead of being a political film as one may assume, Caramel ditches this and instead opts for more personal look at the women involved.

We are drawn to the women’s romantic, amusing, articulate and sweet-natured characters. This is an easy crowd-pleaser for anyone looking for a entertaining and touching couple of hours in the cinema. It also is a perfect for audience's with an appreciation for exceptional cinematography. Visually, Caramel is bespoke.

The director (Nadine Labaki) herself plays Layale, a woman who finds herself in the midst of a failing relationship with a married man. She also remains blissfully unaware that love could be waiting just around the corner, namely the local policeman and traffic warden.

Her colleagues, meanwhile, face their own dilemmas: Nisrine (Yasmine Al Masri) is desperate to prevent her fiance from finding out that she’s not a virgin on their wedding night, while Rima (Joanna Moukarzel) finds herself hopelessly attracted to a female client.

This is an outstanding piece of film, as soon as it begins you can almost taste, touch and smell everything that is on screen. From the infectious love that these women share to the bitter sweet realities that each of them are facing.

Think Sex and The City minus the obsession with men and sex. Instead the film offers a subtle taster of life for these seemingly average women. The lives and characters of these diverse and endearing women is a must see.

The film’s title is derived from the homemade caramel used to wax its client’s legs at traditional beauty salons in the Middle East. It was also Lebanon’s official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

8/10

Countdown Begins For The BFM Film Festival...

With the BFI film festival all wrapped up, film-goers and culture vultures can look forward to the 10th Anniversary of the BFM Film Festival.

Celebrating black British talent the festival opens with Horace Ove's, The Ghost of Hing King Estate, which tells the story of mysterious deaths amongst plantation workers on an estate.

Based on a true story from the 1960s, Ove who has been named the 'godfather' of black British film hits back with a film that lets the audience make up their own mind as to what is going on in the plot. Instead, it's the characters in this film which the audience is instantly drawn to, making them universally empathetic and familiar.

Boris Johnson has congratulated the BFM;

"With venues across London showing a variety of films this year looks set to be the most successful festival to date. It is important that we acknowledge the range of creative talent in our city and this event showcases the excellent work of black filmmakers and actors."

The BFM Festival kicks off on the 7th November, you can buy tickets and find out more information about the films and events here.

HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG (2003) dir. Vadim Perelman

House of Sand and Fog follows the lives of two different people, with one thing in common, one particular house. Jennifer Connelly is Kathy, a twenty-something lonely and depressed woman who has been wrongfully evicted from her late fathers house for not paying business tax.

Mr.Behrani is a former Kernal and has recently fled Iran for the US with his wife and teenage son, Esmail. Ben Kingsly gives an outstanding performance as an Iranian man and plays against Shohreh Aghdashloo, a widely respected Iranian actress who is perfect for the role of Mrs. Behrani.

So, how do these two different characters meet? Mr.Behrani buys Kathy's house for a very cheap price, as it is up for auction.

The film is sympathetic and clearly understands the complex notion of Iranian culture; Mr. Behrani works two jobs everyday to support his family, living at a luxourious hotel. It may seem bizarre to the audience at first glace when he arrives back from his construction job and uses the hotel bathroom to change into a suit before seeing his family. However, one begins to get accustomed with Iranian culture and Mr.Behrani's way of thinking, his morals and his culture.

A former Kernel and a history of wealthy living he is not prepared to give up his status and throw away his self-respect, even as a newly immigrant in the US. One must praise the character for this. The screen play coincides with the understanding and celebration of Iranian culture with lines from Mrs.Behrani such as "Eshmail, we have a guest this means you have to be very quiet, polite and kind".
Ron Eldard plays the role of Lecster the confused policeman fantastically. His character is somewhat racist, but he is a complex character and as with all the characters in this film, you find empathy with him even though he is the instigator of chaos.

The film is really about segregation of cultures, the emphasis is lost by the melodramatic ending. After Eshmail is shot dead by a policeman, Mr. Behrani, fed up with life, kills his wife by poisoning her and then suffocates himself. The Iranian culture is thereby not celebrated by the end of the film as it is extremely unrealistic and out of character for the Behrani's to do such a thing.

Having said this, I urge you to see this film as the cinematography is outstanding as is the acting. The film raises up the issues of pain, life experience, culture and how wonderfully unique they are. Before you watch the film, it would be good to read up on the history of Iran.

Here are a few sites you may be interested in:

Iranian Revolution Information click here

There is an amazing book I would also recommend you read. As freedom of speech is pretty much non existent in Iran, this book has gathered all the anonymous blogs written by Iranians in Iran. Fantastic and Interesting:

We Are Iran Nasrin Alavi