Cannes Film Festival

Just another post full of all the stars, glitz and glamour from another week at Festival De Cannes. Enjoy the images!

The Great Gatsby - Review

THE GREAT GATSBY

2013

12A

Directed by Baz Luhrmann

Starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Joel Edgerton and Carey Mulligan

I had expected this film to either be mind blowing or awful. After watching it, I feel somewhat underwhelmed as The Great Gatsby is neither impressive nor disappointing; it's somewhere inbetween. Baz Luhrmann's vision brings Gatsby alive for the 6th time and has certainly stamped his creative visualisations all over it. However the razzmatazz feels like it's getting in the way of the story, even though said razzmatazz is the most enjoyable bit.

It's hard to review a film that's based on a book (especially one as highly regarded as this) because film should be reviewed in its own right, it seems wrong to judge a film by unfavourable comparisons to a book. With that said, the plot of The Great Gatsby is almost incidental to the success, and the same with the film. People love the twenties era, the music, decadence, clothes. The film is beautiful, fun to look at and I wanted to be there but it largely ignores the subtleties of the book (maybe because the themes can't be translated well onto film...) The Great Gatsby as a book embodies the Jazz Age of the twenties in such as way that makes it one of 'the great American novels' and that's why people only started to really love the book when the twenties had passed; because it is a great impression retrospectively of a lost Age. In this sense, the film stands up very well in comparison to the book.

The film is remarkably decadent and fun to watch. The cars, costumes and parties zing off the screen with a freshness and excitement that is reminiscent of the originality and newness of the twenties. The  hip-hop soundtrack was to us what Jazz was to them, modern and innovative. Jay-Z does work well with the film, it is non jarring and adds to the over all appreciation. 

It is an interesting method of narrative to place Nick in an asylum as a recovering alcoholic. It echoes Holden Caulfield's position in The Catcher In The Rye; however in the film version of The Great Gatsby, it doesn't work as well as it does in J.D Salinger's magnus opus. It seems that Tobey Maguire was either miscast of misdirected possessing too much of a childlike demeanour, as there is nothing wrong with him as an actor. Also, the prose that appeared as if written on the camera was heavy handed and gimmicky and almost detracted from the themes that were trying to  be conveyed. The main ideas of the book however were translated well. The Great Gatsby isn't a tragic love story, it speaks of the elusive American Dream, aspirations and illusions of youth and brutal social politics.

Carey Mulligan is notable as Daisy Buchanan - boring yet intriguing, hollow and ethereal; it is easy to see why Gatsby fell for her but equally easy to see her always being a weak and vacuous woman. Her husband, Tom Buchanan is played remarkably well by Joel Edgerton. One of the few scenes that is standout is the heated exchange between Tom and Gatsby in the Manhattan hotel room. It showed that when the actors were allowed space to breath, unencumbered by confetti cannons, they could truly enact the tension and apprehension as contained in the book. Ultimately, Leonardo Dicaprio was made to play Gatsby. This has been his most impressive portrayal for a very long time and it was easy to find yourself lost in the character and believing him to be someone real and not just Dicaprio putting on an act. The direction of the core actors is Lurhmann's greatest achievement. 

Rating 6.5

Cannes Film Festival - Coverage

Been loving the coverage coming from the Cannes Film Festival this past week and have collated some of my favourite pictures from some of the events. There looks to be some amazing films premiering this year so keep it locked for discussion on some of the buzz films that reviewers are getting excited about!

 

In Competition (Jury chair: Steven Spielberg)

 

Only God Forgives, dir Nicolas Winding Refn

Borgman, dir Alex Can Warmerdam

La Grande Bellezza, dir Paulo Sorrentino 

Behind the Candelabra, dir Steven Soderbergh

La Venus a la Fourrure, dir Roman Polanski

Nebraska, dir Alexander Payne

Jeune et Jolie, dir François Ozon

La Vie d'Adele, dir Abdellatif Kechiche

Wara No Tate, dir Takashi Miike

Soshite Chichi Ni Naru, dir Kore-Eda Hirokazu

Tian Zhu Ding, dir Jia Zhangke

Grisgris, dir Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

The Immigrant, dir James Gray

Heli, dir Amat Escalante 

Le Passe, dir Asghar Farhadi

Michael Kohlhaas, dir Arnaud Despallieres

Inside Llewyn Davis, dir Ethan and Joel Coen

Un Chateau en Italie, dir Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi

 

Un Certain Regard (Jury chair: Thomas Vinterberg)

 

The Bling Ring, dir Sofia Coppola

L'Inconnu Du La, dir Alain Guiraudie

Bends, dir Flora Lau

L'Image Manquante, dir Rithy Panh

La Jaula De Oro, dir Diego Quemada-Diez

Anonymous, dir Mohammad Rasoulof

Sarah Préfère La Course, dir Chloé Robichaud

Grand Central, dir Rebecca Zlotowski

Fruitvale Statio, dir Ryan Coogler

Les Salauds, dir Claire Denis

Norte, Hangganan Ng Kasaysayan, dir Lav Diaz

As I Lay Dying, dir James Franco

Miele, dir Valeria Golino

Omar, dir Hany Abu-Assad

Death March, dir Adolfo Alix Jr

 

Cinefondation (Jury chair: Jane Campion)

 

Special Screenings

 

Weekend Of A Champion, dir Roman Polanski 

Seduced And Abandoned, dir James Toback

Otdat Konci, dir Taisia Igumentseva

Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, dir Stephen Frears

Stop The Pounding Heart, dir Robero Minervini

 

Midnight Screenings

 

Monsoon Shootout, dir Amit Kumar

Blind Detective, dir Johnnie To

 

Homage To Jerry Lewis

 

Max Rose, dir Daniel Noah

 

Out Of Competiton 

 

All Is Lost by J.C Chandor

Blood Ties by Guillaume Canet

Met Ball Gala Photos

It's been a while but Amateur Reviews is back and blogging, sorry for going AWOL (assuming people actually had noticed hahaha). Was having a trawl around online and decided to collate the photos of all of the actresses who attended the Met Ball in New York City last night. Which took me a surprisingly long time as I sometimes struggled to ascertain who was an actual actress worthy of inclusion on a film blog! Anyway, here are some of the ones I found, enjoy the Punk Couture-ness!

 

Shame Review

SHAME

2011

18

Directed by Steve McQueen

Starring Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan and James Badge Dale

Set in The Big Apple, Steve McQueen’s second movie follows the life of Brandon (Fassbender) as he deals with sexual addiction and the unannounced arrival of his sister (Mulligan).

This film has been terrifically difficult to review for the simple reason that it’s partly fantastic yet heavily flawed, therefore it is very hard to come down on one side of the fence. But the verdict was eventually managed.

On the positive side of things, the acting is superb. Michael Fassbender is something else. His portrayal of Brandon is a lot more reserved than a lot of the roles we have seen him in previously and it was clear he was pretending he was okay to the world but inside he was falling apart. Steve McQueen’s artistic flair was greatly appreciated, call it showing off, but those long takes he does that last for minutes without cutting are very impressive. Watch out for a stunning tracking shot of a run through New York City which is absolutely stellar. A member of the viewing party however commented that artistic flourishes like this don’t actually bring anything to the movie, but that can be greatly debated. The sex is handled well and is almost clinical but this is not a sexy film because Brandon remains cold throughout and there is no indication of love in any of it.

But here’s the thing, the whole film comes across a touch pretentious, which people feel the need to fawn over. It’s not the fact that the movie is about the edgy subject of sex addiction, generally it’s the fact the film over indulges. Was there any need for Carey Mulligan’s 12 hour singing session of New York, New York? Arguably yes, but it did seem unnecessary. Shame relies on the concept, Fassbender’s talents and McQueen’s directorial skill. It feels like the story came secondary to this as the movie was just a sequence of events. Although maybe that was the point, a real insight into someone’s life?

Also, it does seem strange that it’s not even stated that Brandon suffers sexual addiction, he could be construed as being really horny! He doesn’t feel shame and his life is not exactly falling apart yet. But again, that may be the point: he doesn’t know that it’s a problem so it’s never acknowledged.

Yet despite the criticisms, Shame is immensely mesmerising, thought provoking and brave. People use the word brave with regards to cinema too often, but to have Mulligan sing the whole of New York, New York (although pretentious) is bold. And it’s courageous to have Fassbender engage in half of the things he does, but it serves a purpose. Shame is a searing tale of emotional pain and modern addiction which is more than worth seeing.

This film could be an 8 on an artsy day, but as it stands Shame gets a regretful 6.5. More story and less pretence would’ve been top.

Rating: 6.5

Harsh? You know where to have your say Amateur Reviewers!