Last King of Scotland (Smaltz Review)

Dir: Kevin Mcdonald
Starring: Forrest Whitaker, James McAvoy
Year: 2006

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this story it has nothing to do with the Highlands or Highlander (fortunately). This is a dramatised story of Idi Armin’s rule of Uganda, a man curiously obsessed with England’s northern cousin so as to name himself the Last King of Scotland.

Smaltzy don't waste no time: this is a tremendous film. Forrest Whitaker’s performance in the lead role is one that will be looked back on as classic for a long time.

The story follows Nicholas Garrigan, a naieve and fun-loving Scottish physician. The characters are so well judged and portrayed that we are drawn in by the charismatic Armin just as Nicholas is. He begins by accepting the role of his personal physician and is eventually called his closest advisor.

Each step closer to Amin is filled with tension until the horrendous acts committed under his rule are impossible to ignore. This first half is an exciting look at an exotic country of the brink of change but the second is pure political thriller.

The chilling turning point comes when Nicholas wants to get out only to find his house ram sacked and a new Ugandan passport waiting for him, effectively trapping him in the country.

There are some disturbing images but only occasionally as the filmmakers show great restraint which makes the whole thing more frightening. Be assured this film is top notch!

Smaltz-o-meter: Top Work

Transparent: A Tribute to a Sad Genius ｻﾄﾗﾚ

Dir: Katsuyuki Motohiro (Who?!)
Starring: Masanobu Ando, Kyoko Suzuki
Year: 2001

A guy who works at a pub and spends his time writing novellas on some rather disturbing themes (such as a baby who rules the earth) should never be trusted for film recommendations. How does Narry Borman, your guide to all that is good in the greasy world of graphic grahams (aka films), know this? Just such a person recommended Satorare (Japanese title) to me.

It's not bad, but Motohiro seems to try to cram way too much in to what is actually quite a lightweight film. The first half is kind of comedic, with some nice sci-fi/mystery touches. Annoyingly, the plot then goes overly dramatic; dying grand-mothers, raison d'etres, surgery, and tears. Lots and lots of tears. Plus an overly confident woman standing up for 'babes lib' or something.

In fact, the last ten minutes of the film are spent almost entirely in sweeping, panning shots of the main cast crying and hugging. Sickening. It kind of ruined what started out as an interesting flim.

You'll recognise the cast from (variously) Drive and A Cheerful Gang that Turns the Earth.

Average!

Punchdrunk Love

Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Adam Sandler

PTA made my most hated movie of all time (I'll leave y'all to guess which one). It seems, however, that he can produce some magic.

What happens when a normal, albeit lonely, dude reaches the pits of despair and meets one helluva lady at the same time? Punchdrunk Love, my friends, is what happens. Somehow, the protagonist in this film manages to take things quite far but keeps it real at the same time. It's a thin line between passion and obsession.

Something just clicked for the NB with this film. Maybe the lead character reminded him worryingly of himself (at least the late 17th century Narry B, anyway), or maybe it was just that this is a moving story told with a nice touch of comedy and a great soundtrack.

It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, and there were a few overtly 'indie' touches that seemed a bit contrived, but I'd say Punchdrunk Love is...

Genius!

La Parfum De La Dame En Noir

Dir: Bruno Podalydès
Starring: Denis Podalydès
Year: 2005

Apparently this little known French film is based on a Gaston Leroux novel. While the story seems solid, it's let down by the fact that this film is a sequel - I haven't seen the first film, so the plot remained, to me at least, a real mystery.

It's really poorly edited. First time viewers are left unaware of the background to the characters, and many assumptions are made about the audience's knowledge.

Ignoring the gaping flaws in the plot, some of which are explained at the end, the settings are amazing. This is classic French scenery - wide open seascapes, craggy cliffs, and mysterious islands. Wine, food and philosophy is served in abundance.

Michale Lonsdale (you've seen him in Moonraker, if nothing else) steals the show as the professor who takes forever to start his painting, and precedes every major scene with an ominous prophecy ("The atmosphere is tense, isn't it!").

A shoddily produced work that has some minor merits.

Average!

Some Kind of Wonderful

Dir: Howard Deutch
Writer: John Hughes
Starring: Lea Thompson (BTTF), Eric Stoltz et al.
Year: 1987

What's going on with Narry B lately? He's reviewing all sorts of 80's classics, and with the help of Smaltz he hopes to one day to have the CFBW - Cheesiest Film Blog in the World.

What's the deal with John Hughes? He makes classics like Ferris Bueller's Day Off and stinkers such as The Breakfast Club. In fact, I heard he even worked Narry's MHFL5Y (Most Hated Film of the Last 5 Years) Drillbit Taylor. You can't deny he's one of the most successful writer/directors of the last 30 years.

I rather liked Some Kind of Wonderful. It was, unlike custard, sweet without being sloppy. Some wonderful teen cliches are mixed in with an otherwise decent coming-of-age tale, that has a rather sudden but predictable ending.

When Stolts falls in love with High School Jock Craig Sheffer's girl, things get complicated for him, his best friend and pretty much everyone else. The climactic fight between Stoltz and Sheffer comes to an excellent conclusion thanks to some street punks. Remember, kids, you can always rely on street punks to back you up in a fight.

Sometimes funny, sometimes moving, sometimes cheesy (Dodge E. take note), always entertaining.

Rating: Top Work!

The Patriot (Smaltz Review)

Dir: Roland Emmerich

Starring: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Jason Isaacs

This is how it should go. Mr Emmerich make’s a new film, we all sit down and get a (slightly too long) couple of hours of spectacle and come out feeling a little deflated.

What we actually have is his best film that deserves to be seen as a very good war film. It shows the struggle for American independence from us pesky Brits. It’s surprisingly poignant helped along by its very good cast. Mel is rugged and has a past filled with war which he wants to get over. Heath is fresh faced and eager to server his country much to his father’s displeasure and Mr Issacs is smarmy and hated as he fills the role of customary English villain very well.

Smaltz is still surprised at how much restraint is shown. The battles are seen from a far except of course the epic ending with much screen time given to dialogue and character building. Also enjoyable is when Mel’s band of merry men goes a bit Robin Hood and peacefully sabotages the English army.

What really makes the film work, and is perhaps the most surprising element, is how well the central family work. Where as in other Emmerich films, The Day after Tomorrow say, the character arc is contrived and they are uncared for by the audience, where as here it is painful to watch as the family gets ripped apart.

Indeed the stupidity of civil war (perhaps more so than others) is wrapped up nicely in the films best line “Why swap one dictator three thousand miles away for three thousand dictators one mile away”.

Top Work!

12 Angry Men

Dir: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Henry Fonda, Ed Begley
Year: 1957

You may remember that the Narry Borman recently reviewed the excellent 'Gentle Twelve', a Japanese film written by Mitani Koki. I remarked in that review that it bears resemblance to a Hitchcock film. Behold, now, I realise my mistake.

12 Angry Men is the original film upon which Gentle 12 was based. 12 Angry Men is remarkably similar to Gentle 12. Koki obviously respects this film. 12 Angry Men is about a jury of 12 men who have to decide on a crime commited by a slum kid. Prejudice, personal feelings, and baseball games stand in the way of reaching a true verdict.

Much like Gentle 12, it tells you more about the character of the jurors than a 'whodunnit' story. And with Henry 'the man' Fonda among the rather talented cast, you can just sit back and enjoy. There is a very strong message in here, too, which is typified in the powerful scene where everyone turns their backs on the one remaining bigot.

Hazzah for equality!

Top Work!

Dead Poets Society

Dir: Peter Weir
Starring: Robin Williams, That guy from House, and Ethan Hawkeye

I'm gonna let you in on a secret about Narry Borman's life: He's a teacher. He teaches you all about good and bad films, and he also teaches English to earn a living and support his blog writing.

Robin Williams is also a teacher in Dead Poets Society. In fact, he's about the best darn teacher I've seen on the big screen. In a very understated (unusual for Williams) way he inspires his students to live and, ultimately, die.

I don't think any other film has as potent and vital a message delivered in such a worthy and selfless way as DPS. It's littered with quotable lines and iconic moments. The students are really rather naive but they're sincere, which is kind of likable.

Probably my favourite 80's coming of age film.

Genius!

Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers

Dir: Satoshi Miki
Starring: Ueno Juri
Year: 2005

This is the second Satoshi Miki that I've seen as I've been drifting off to sleep. I'm not sure if I dreamt half of it or if it was real. It's always hard to tell with Miki's films.

For example, the main character Suzume is bowled over by a cascade of apples in one scene, while in another scene her childhood sweetheart turns out to be wearing a wig, and in another scene she throws a turtle from the 7th floor of an apartment building only to catch it before it lands. It's the mix of the fantastic and the real that make Miki's films so fun.

Turtles has an interesting premise. An everyday person becomes a very normal spy. Her life barely changes when she enters the new profession. And that is its downfall too. The film kind of fizzles out without really taking you anywhere.

What it does have is an excellent ensemble of characters, chiefly the middle-aged couple who are the head spies. Plus, the colourful visual style and an eccentric sense of humour makes for an entertaining 90 mins.

Good!

Gentle Twelve

Dir: Mitani Koki
Writer: Koki Mitani
Starring: Kazayuki Ajima
Year: 1991

If Hitchcock had been born in Japan, he might have directed something like this. The atmostphere is quite like his early-ish films, and in a similar way to Rope, almost the entire film is set in one room. A juror's room.

Gentle Twelve is as much about the Japanese character as it is about deciding whether a bar hostess is guilty of murder or not. People agree with each other just to get an easy answer, people don't know why they think what they think, and others staunchly hold to one opinion in the face of facts.

Mitani Koki wrote this film, and it's got his fingerprints all over it. It's even got his signature weakness of being a wee bit too long. Or, to be more correct, it would have been better if he had made it a bit shorter (see also The Magic Hour and The Wow-Choten Hotel).

Overall, it's a cracker of a film, though, that pokes fun at Japan inside of a very interesting story.

Top work!

Juno

Dir: Jason Reitman
Starring: Michael Cera, Ellen Page

I'm sure teenage girls love this film, but Narry B is not a teenage girl. Y'see, Juno talks in that 'witty' and 'clever' style of so many over-educated, over-confident young laydeez that makes you cringe when you hear it. She's trying way too hard.

That was NB's main gripe. The seoncd gripe was the 'oh-so-out there' music and pop culture references. I like manga! I like Iggy Pop! I like b-movies! Love meeee!

And my final gripe is that it seemed to stifle the comedy talents of Arrested Development's Michael Cera and Jason Bateman. I wanted to see more humour from them. Ol' J.K was really good as her father, though.

That aside, it's a well made, likable (for a certain teenage demograpic) movie. Plus, Juno and Michael Cera's relationship leaves us on a good note. And there are some funny moments, such as the dad asking what you can make with a Pilates machine.

Finally, Juno has a strong moral lesson: You can always give your baby up for adoption... Ech.

Rating: Average!

Welcome to Dongmakgol

Dir: Kwang-Hyun Park
Starring: Hye-Jeong Kang, Jae-yeong Jong

Ah, how Narry B loves daft leading ladies. They come no dafter than Yeo-il in Welcome to Dongmakgol. A silly, lovely, airhead of a girl who prances around the valleys of Korea like they're her playground.

The story is quaint, too: During the Korean civil war, two groups of opposing soldiers stumble across a village deep in the mountains. The village is hundreds of years behind the times, unaware that there is even a war.

The naeivety of the villagers gives a chance for some wonderfully childish antics: singing, dancing, silly games, and traditional festivals.

Unfortunately, starring alongside the wonderful Yeo-il is a cliched white guy. I’ll never understand why there are so many awful western actors in asian films. They’re awful! Dongmakgol's wannabe-actor is Steve Taschler - he rivals Natalie Portman for woodenness.

Despite that, Dongmakgol has some magical moments, even if the war theme is a bit too strong and ends up detracting from the wonderment with its overbearing seriousness.

If you’ve ever wanted to see a wild boar being felled in slow motion, now's your chance.

Rating: Good!

Billy Liar

Dir: John Schlesinger
Starring: Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie
Year: 1963

They say that you should always shave with the grain. Narry Borman sometimes shaves against the grain 'cos it feels strange and it's a bit different.

I love Billy Liar. It's a great film - a brilliant idea put into action in a supreme way. It's been probably 5 years since I last saw it, so I was worried that it might not be as good as I remembered. But it was just as good.

Billy Liar is perhaps cinema's original imaginative, discontented kid, living in a dream world and almost unable to face reality as it is (look at Science of Sleep for the most recent, most crappy example). Julie Christie plays his kindred spirit, but Billy's so far gone that he even let's her slip by (if Julie Christie asked Narry Borman to go to London with her, he'd give up his day job as a testing guinea pig immediately).

Admittedly, this film goes against the grain of my normal taste - it has a thoroughly depressing atmosphere, particularly in the last 30 minutes. But NB sympathizes with Liar's dream world and 'immaturity'.

You can't fault the acting (Courtenay is legendary, Christie is delicious, Pickles is on fire, and Rossiter is snide as a pig). You can't fault the script. You can't fault the direction.

Conclusion, Genius!

The Conversation

Dir: F F Coppola
Starring: Gene Hackman
Year: 1974

In the hands of a lesser director than Coppola this would have a been boring film. But Coppola is a rare talent who makes complete films, sometimes seemingly out of nothing.

There are two big turning points in this film: 1. The crime is not what you think it is, and 2. The Conversation is not even about the crime - it's about the man. Both of these denouements (can you have two?) come within the last 10-15 minutes of the film, which, even after two hours of filmage, leaves you wanting more.

I was genuinely scared by this film - not that it's a horror film, or even scary, but it just has a certain tension that leaves you feeling chilled. The soundtrack has an off-beat jazz vibe that sits somewhere between The Sting and a Charlie Parker LP, creating the perfect background for the paranoia and intensity of Hackman's character and his disturbing world of surveillance.

Hackman + Coppola = Genius.

Genius!

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Dir: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury

Ah, the 1960's. A simpler age, where you could still cast South American, Native American, and even even plain American people as 'oriental'. Narry Borman means no offense to anyone and wishes to state that he personally believes every man is his brother and he is every man's cousin.

You can understand why they chose to remake this film (see 2004's remake of the same name... or better yet don't). The plot, heavy with espionage and intrigue, is tense, disturbing, and all too real. In an age in cinema that was prone to some truly awful acting, The Manchurian Candidate stands tall. Lansbury excels as the scariest, most demanding mother ever, outside of Arrested Development's Jessica Walter of course. Franky S carries off the role as a disturbed but dedicated Army Major in fine style. And Janet Leigh has a nice pair of hooters.

So, why exactly did they choose to remake this film? I'm not too sure, actually. The 1962 film is well-produced with some really imaginitave direction, such as the scene that shifts between a flower convention, a communist war meeting, and another flower convention for older black women. The acting is top class and the story could not be improved. Do yourself a favour and watch the 1962 version.

Top work!