Ensemble of Reviews 2

 Captain Phillips (2013)

Tom Hanks is brilliant as the titular character of a Maersk container ship that gets attacked by Somali pirates around the Horn of Africa, but Paul Greengrass’ latest thriller lacks the raw political punch that it could and perhaps should have had. Captain Phillips makes vague attempts to contextualise the plight of Muse (Barkhad Ali) early on, and they do occupy a kind of villainous ambiguity, but the reasoning behind the Somali piracy is never forcefully alluded to or revealed. Perhaps this was deliberately side-stepped by the producers or the money men – after all, it is the financial greed and corporational trading gluttony that facilitated the production of this film.

Thriller movies set on boats and ships have a rich cinematic heritage – Speed 2, Under Siege, The Poseidon Adventure – although this is considerably more serious and considerably less trashy. In truth Captain Phillips loses its lustre as soon as Hanks leaves his ship and gets smuggled away in a lifeboat and taken prisoner by his Somali friends, but then regains it when he has to simulate the visual effects of shock, which Hanks does in absolutely captivating fashioning. Greengrass’ picture is entertaining in its own morosely disaster film-y way, but lacks the ju-ju to really leave an indelible impression on the gods of cinema history (id est me).

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013)

There were serious, debilitating criticisms about the male fantasy lesbian sex scenes featured in Blue is the Warmest Colour last summer when Abdellatif Kechiche’s film clinched the Palme d’Or at Cannes. And they are kind of unnecessary. I’m not being nanny state – these are ten minute scenes, stretched out and exposed to the extent that they lose all cinematic potency, or even interest. Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux had to bare all for their roles and they weren’t particularly pleased about it, calling the shooting experience ‘horrible’ and Kechiche’s directorial style overly demanding, even exploitative. Furthermore the author of the original graphic novel, Julie Maroh, labelled the three hour epic as simply ‘porn’. Nonetheless it cannot be denied that these stories furnished the film with a whole extra layer of PR though.

The film itself seems less a study of homosexuality in modern France – the reactions of Adèle’s friends are only briefly shown – and more a love story about Adèle and Emma, and their evolving and dissolving relationship. In that sense Kechiche’s vision is a pure presentation of love, that love is universal and present regardless of sexual orientation; he looks to liberate his audience’s preconceptions from titillating prejudice. Narrative arcs that unfurl over a number of years – like Blue is the Warmest Colour – often find it difficult to maintain relevance and, in truth, the third act does meander as we leave teenage self-discovery and enter the adult dialectic. Regardless, the quality of acting is superb, and brings the house down in some of the central scenes that drip with emotion and altruistic longing.

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Matthew McConaughey’s Golden Globe winning performance makes this Jean-Marc Vallée film about the spread of HIV in the late 1980s. Loosely based on true events (isn’t every film nowadays) McConaughey plays the Texan hick Ron Woodroof who puts aside his antiquated homophobic opinions to sell beneficial drugs that the FDA (the US Food and Drug Association) deemed illegal in the States to aid fellow sufferers of the AIDs virus. Jared Leto is his effeminate accomplice and Jennifer Garner – who is, like McConaughey, in the process of reinvigorating a critically flagging acting career – the sympathetic local doctor. Their enemies are the FDA and anonymous pharmaceutical companies who harvest people’s lives to make as much money as possible. It’s the emotional journey of Woodroof who deservedly steals the limelight: he goes from electrician/cad/bull rider to a morally fibrous clandestine businessman who travels to Mexico, Japan, Israel and other places to secure the drugs his clients need. And McConaughey is that man who takes on the gruff nature of Woodroof’s character, even replicating the latter’s frail physiognomy with a severe weight loss program. Dallas Buyers Club is a heart-warming biopic of strength against adversity – over both the FDA and the fatal disease which eventually claims his life – and thoroughly rewarding watch.

Drinking Buddies (2013)

Drinking Buddies is Joe Swanberg’s new dramatic comedy, starring Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson as two colleagues who work at a brewery and events company, and their sturdily platonic friendship and how its dynamic works amidst Kate’s (Wilde) break-up with her boyfriend. It’s a film that tries to be warm and natural in its quick-fire conversational dialogue – a refining of Swanberg’s history in the inane mumblecore sub-genre – yet the characters are perversely unengaging, leaving us (yes, the royal we) cold and isolated from their respective issues. There are moments that intrigue but the heart-felt bits sag with emotive strain; Drinking Buddies is at its best when focussing on the awkward looks and body language hints that Wilde and Johnson are careful to convey. This should be a light-hearted flick and nothing more.