[star rating=”3.5″]
COME HELL OR HIGH WATER. Directed by David Mackenzie. With Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine and Ben Foster.
REVIEW: Karen Rutter
Billed as a neo-Western thriller, Come Hell or High Water is imbued with a moodiness that reminds one of early Coen Bros films, and a (mostly) laconic style of acting which fits the style. The exception is Jeff Bridges, playing Marcus, a chatty Texan Ranger facing retirement who can’t seem to stop articulating his views, mostly at the expense of his long suffering partner Alberto (Gil Birmingham).
The stage is set when brothers Toby and Tanner (Pine and Mackenzie) set about robbing a series of smallish Texas banks. Each brother has his own motivation, which is revealed along the way. Marcus and Alberto are trying to stop them. That’s about the gist of it. The rest is taken up with beautiful but unsettling scenes of the Texan landscape (although it was actually filmed in New Mexico) and the parallel relationships between the brothers, and the partners, both of which have their darker nuances.
It’s a slow-moving but oddly mesmerising narrative, broken up by short sharp acts of violence and ironic references to the old West, complete with cowboys (and Indians). Bridges turns in a standout performance, reminiscent of his Big Lebowski gravitas but with a stetson and drawl. Complex, and strangely unsettling (partly due to the score by Nick Cave), it’s an engaging watch.
[star rating=”3.5″]
ALONE IN BERLIN. Directed by Vincent Perez. With Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson.
REVIEW: Karen Rutter
Alone in Berlin has many great things going for it – an excellent cast headed by Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson, a stirring narrative based on a true story, and an immaculately designed setting. Thompson and Gleeson play a somewhat dour German couple living in Berlin during the second world war, who are roused to distribute anti-Nazi material when their soldier son is killed in action. They do by this leaving anonymous postcards with phrases like “Don’t Support the War Effort” all over the city. Unlikely heroes, both, they nevertheless start to make an impact – and thus attract the attention of the authorities, who begin a city-wide search for the postcard writers.
It’s a project with integrity, and the two lead actors tackle their roles with an understated, poignant dignity. There is, too, a sense of respect for the immaculate styling of the film.
But there are a few things that niggle: the one-dimensional portrayal of the Nazis, being one, and then the strange aural awkwardness of a film set in Germany, featuring so-called Germans, being acted by English people who speak with German accents. To the extent that certain working class Germans even sound semi-Cockney (to denote their social standing, presumably), but with a Teutonic edge. Curious – and distracting.
The film was initially planned to be in German, with a German cast, but the commercial pull of big names changed this. It’s maybe a pity. But the quiet, solidly-paced rhythm of the film and its intriguing tale are still worth watching.
[star rating=”4″]
INDIGNATION. Directed by James Schamus, with Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, Tracy Letts and Linda Emond.
REVIEW: Jane Mayne
It’s Marcus’ (Logan Lerman) headspace you get to inhabit in Indignation, an intense adaptation of Philip Roth’s personalised novel. Lerman’s focused embodiment of Marcus – a sharp working-class Jewish boy from Newark who struggles to fit into college life, makes for totally rewarding, intimate viewing.
Lerman is mesmerising as the troubled outsider – an articulate young scholar who meets beautiful, but ‘damaged’ classmate Olivia Hutton (Gadon). Despite the instant chemistry, with the weight of convention stacked against, their lack of experience navigating the complexity of adolescence and the hum-drum mores of the time (1951) sees them fall victim to an overbearing system intolerant of difference. The mood soon darkens and things unravel to tragic consequences.
Award-winning screenwriter Schamus (Ang Lee’s scriptwriter) lent his weight to the likes of Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and this compelling outing wearing the director’s hat certainly bumps up his substantial portfolio. Lerman and Gadon captivate with just the right balance of unease, emotive magnetism and healthy Indignation.
[star rating=”2″]
DON’T BREATHE. Directed by Fede Alvarez. With Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette, Daniel Zovatto and Stephen Lang.
REVIEW: Karen Rutter
Don’t Breathe follows a paint-by-numbers horror formula with nary a nod towards irony or humour – rather, one senses a bored studio team grimly ticking off a list of clichés with the same amount of passion that, say, a store packer may have for their shift.
Trio of teens, two ‘good’, one ‘bad’ – tick. One blind psycho maniac – tick. A creepy old house – tick. A killer Rottweiler – tick. Death-by-gardening-shears scene – tick.
And so on.
How it plays out is, a group of teenagers break into a house where they believe there’s huge stash of cash. What they find is the freaky owner, and a babe in the basement. This being a horror movie, they get trapped in the house while the owner, a blind war vet with a talent for bare-handed killing, tries to wipe them out. People die in the time-honoured order of horror films – SPOILER ALERT! – with the ‘bad’ dude going first followed by the basement babe. Meanwhile, despite repeated stabbings and shootings, the freaky blind guy refuses to lie down.
Does anybody survive, and do they end up with the moola they came for in the beginning? Let’s be honest – do you really care?
EXTRAS: Director’s commentary, deleted scenes, meeting the cast, soundscape etc.
[star rating=”2″]
DESIERTO. Directed by Jonás Cuarón. With Gael García Bernal and Jeffrey Dean Morgan
REVIEW: Jane Mayne
A chase movie about Mexicans attempting to cross into the US illegally. When the truck transporting them breaks down, they’re forced to complete their journey on foot. But if they thought things were grim back home, they hadn’t reckoned on a lone redneck, sniper-from-hell in this dusty survival thriller.
Bernal holds up as the lead, but ultimately everything pivots on the chase and there’s no real character development to speak of. Sweaty Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his loco dog get to reduce the headcount.
Uncomfortably similar to Beyond the Reach (Michael Douglas), and it’s a cheap set too – the whole cat and mouse game is outdoors among the cacti.
What: SterKinekor DVD Home Entertainment Releases
Web: www.sterkinekor.co.za
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