To A Land Unknown

 Two Palestinian migrants in Athens plot a route to Germany so that they can set up a restaurant. 

‘How does it feel, ah how does it feel?

To be on your own, with no direction home

Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone’ 

They have not a lot so they survive by robbing people that don’t have a lot themselves. Malik a 13 year old boy attaches himself to them so that he can go to Italy, where his aunty is. They persuade Tatiana, a Greek woman, to take him to Italy. There are then other schemes to make money, taking it from others that don’t have much, and then deal in prostitution and take drugs to take the edge off things. 

‘When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose’. 

These are the people in boats that live in one country that’s destroyed, go to another that’s destroyed, end up with nothing in Athens and then have the carrot of unlimited capitalist wealth dangled in front of them. What would you do? How would you survive? Don’t put your cap or your husk of bread down else it’ll be stolen, I’m not telling you that I would do it.

The Sense of an Ending

 An adaptation of the Julian Barnes novel, not that I’ve read it. It’s the story of Tony who’s reminded of the relationship he had with Veronica while he was at university in the 60s. She subsequently left him to forge a union with a school friend of his, Adrian. So 40 years later Tony receives word that Veronica has died and has left him something. The story leads us to how this affects the relationship with his ex wife and daughter, and how Tony deals with all of this. 

Now I’m not sure if the novel is in the first person, but I suspect it is. There are revelations that come in the story from Tony’s point of view. I like the way the story unfolds, how you’d let go of the small revelations first and then the bigger ones as you become more comfortable with the past.
I think that the title refers to how unfinished business can have an effect decades after the events. If it’s left too long though then you may end up being the only character that wants to revisit the event. Others may have dealt with it already, in fact they probably have. 
I found the film intriguing.

Heretic

 After Paddington 2; Hugh Grant oozes evil again. I could listen to him talk for hours, he has the most wonderful voice. Here he menaces two Latter Day Saint Sisters, as to what his motivation is, that becomes apparent throughout the film. 

I was reminded of Jesus of Montreal, which got me into a lot of trouble once. Anyway in the theological discussion, blueberry pie, and a mellifluous Englishman is a very well told story that maybe lacks in the exploration of motivation when all is said and done. Maybe that’s the mystery though. 

There are philosophical discussions that I will go over in my head for a long time, that’s if they’ve not been implanted as part of the magic act. The question and discussion about iterations was interesting, and about memory as well. Are we just recalling the memory of doing something, what are memories anyway? Line of the film has to be ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ ‘That was Spider-Man’ ‘No it was Voltaire’. There is blood and gore, and is that necessary? I don’t know. I did enjoy the film at least.

Knives Out

Knives Out (Rian Johnson, 2019)

I had no expectations going in to see this film. I’ve seen two of Rian Johnson’s films and I didn’t think much of Looper and I very much enjoyed The Last Jedi. The cast is one of the major selling points here. Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Daniel Craig and Christopher Plummer are all great draws. I loved seeing Don Johnson again after so long, and to see M. Emmet Walsh is a joy.

Anyway Plummer plays a rich successful author with a hideous family. He’s 85 years old and is found dead one morning. There is then an investigation and many twists and turns that really play with Police procedures, as any whodunnit does. 

The joy here is that the film appears not to conform to all the rules, or does it. I couldn’t really care who did or didn’t do it, I found it far too enjoyable. I don’t think there are enough joyous films made for adults, these films used to be the stock trade of cinema, thirty or forty years ago. Long may these films continue. Wonderful, I want to see more not too demanding, enjoyable films

Greed

Greed (Michael Winterbottom, 2019)

With films such as The Big Short (Adam McKay, 2015) in the recent past capitalism has not had a good rap really. Even going back to It’s A Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) and Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) we see that money doesn’t bring that much happiness per se. Here we have Sir Richard McCready, ‘Greedy’ to his friends and enemies alike on the verge of celebrating his 60th birthday on a Greek Island.

McCready, played by the sparkling toothed Steve Coogan, is a clothes retail magnate who built an empire with small beginnings, and grew it with shady deals. Any comparison to any Arcadian is, well you know.

The theme of his 60th birthday party, apart from excess, is Rome and the film Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)- so he has a gladiatorial arena built on this Greek island. First of all by Bulgarians, and then eventually Syrian refugees.

I’m not sure how many times Steve Coogan and Michael Winterbottom have worked together, but they have a substantial working relationship. You can see the blossoming of it here, Coogan is so comfortable in his role, even in that of such an unlikeable character. It’s all very post modern as well, shifting times and places, going back and forth. It’s all like find the lady I suppose you have to look closely. The film says as much about global economics as it does about this industrialist. He is emblematic of bigger travails. ‘Only connect’, E.M. Forster is referenced as saying at the beginning, but then so to be honest is Chekhov.

Bad Education

Bad Education (Cory Finley, 2019)

As opposed to, well you know. Banish all thoughts of Pedro Almodovar, Jack Whitehall and even Charlize Theron, most of the education here is good. Well maybe not in being a good influence on your children. Hugh Jackman plays Dr Frank Tassone, an inspirational school superintendent, like a super head, a chief education officer or someone in charge of an academy chain in England. He’s loved by everyone it seems, he’s in charge of a very successful school, enabling students to achieve, making it to Ivy League Colleges etc. He’s also credited with helping house prices sky rocket in the vicinity of the school. A good school creates demand and can be the centre of a good community. As well he’s a man of taste and wealth, and seems to be as liberally perfumed as Mr Gustave.

However, there’s always a however. The school is on the verge of building a skywalk, an $8 million bridge that the students will love, right. The school newspaper sends a reporter to cover the skywalk story, just to really say ‘yay, we’re getting a skywalk!’ in speaking to the superintendent she’s inspired to write what she wants to write, dig deeper, impose herself. That’s where the kernel of the story is.

It’s a cautionary tale of not taking things at face value and also a case of looking at why someone might throw someone else under the bus. That it’s a true story is even more interesting, what was the film where they said ‘some of this stuff actually happened’. I’m not what was done was in the interests of comedy, but that’s where it all ends up.

Jojo Rabbit

Jojo Rabbit(Taika Waititi, 2019)

I was a bit squeamish about this film to be honest and faced the prospect of it with some trepidation. It being a comedy, with Nazis in it. It gave me some apprehension. I remember having exactly the same feelings about It’s Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997), and then being entranced by that film.

Here we have Jojo who, at the age of 10, takes his first steps towards manhood. Living in Nazi Germany this involves going to camp, of the Hitler Youth, he discusses this with his friend Adolf Hitler, played by Taika Waititi, as you do at the age of 10 (in Nazi Germany). The camp, run by Sam Rockwell, is very reminiscent of the pack in Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012), with a similar amount of inappropriately dangerous activities organised for children; knife skills, killing small animals, throwing hand grenades etc, for the boys that is.

The film is really about the choices we make and who can influence those choices. Jojo’s mother, played by Scarlett Johansson does her best to be a good influence on him. Her influence and her views become apparent throughout the film, it’s all about breadcrumbs I guess.

This, though, is the last days of the Second World War and there have been plenty of cinematic examples of what happened then. It’s all played with a heavy amount of humour, which we’ve seen before as well. I was reminded though of The Book Thief (Brian Percival, 2013) with its end of day’s vibes, the German army recruiting anyone that could hold a weapon.

Although it could be argued that the film is flippant, it could be said that’s done for entertainments sake. The film does attempt to discuss weighty issues and does show the Nazis in their true light. It does as well show that not all Germans were Nazis, it shows as well that friendship and love means an awful lot and that people can change, with the right influences.