Absence of Malice (1981)

RATING:	100%
FORMAT:	DVD

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Excellent movie about the difference between facts and the truth and the common conflation of the two by journalists and scandal-mongers. The issues are subtly explored in a character-driven narrative that comes from a sophisticated screenplay and the superb actors. All of the characters are clearly differentiated and believable.

Because the characters are the means by which this film conveys its ideas about defamation, guilt and ethical responsibility the performers need to be the best. Sally FIELD is wonderful as the villainess of the piece because you want to hiss in her direction yet find her adorability difficult to overcome. Paul NEWMAN is impeccable as the honest, morally-upright citizen who is considered to be an apple that does not fall far from the tree of his criminal father.

The immaturity and downright irresponsibility of what passes for modern Western journalism is well exposed because profits, readership and sales figures are more important than verity – which is often confused with facts, rumor and innuendo. Newspapers will print anything so long as it sells without any concern for whom they hurt. They are unable to believe what they are told because they are only ever really interested in bad news because of their cynical belief that there is no other kind. Yet, you cannot tell the truth (or a lie) without hurting someone.

Like the recent movie State of Play, this is a drama for adults who like their stories served up with a strong undercurrent of political realism.

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Copyright © 2010 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Mar Adentro (2004)

60%

[Sea Inside;
Sea Within]

Despite the brilliance of the acting here, this really does not get down to the nitty gritty of its ostensible subject matter.

The euthanasia theme is never fully explored beyond a pointed attack on Christian hypocrisy. Christians exploit the concept of freewill when God’s goodness is in question, but not when someone who can actually be proven to exist wishes to exercise their right to life. Although politically relevant, this is not enough to completely round out the dramaturgy.

Worse than this, the characterization is so weak that we never really understand the reasons why the central character wants to die when he has a reasonable standard of living. Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby was so much better in this regard.

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Copyright © 2010 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Battle of Britain (1969)

60%

Somewhat less than the sum of its parts, this would be epic lacks a unifying dramatic thread that truly convinces. The impressive cast duly impresses with the earned gravitas from other, much better pictures - but this is merely a parade of characters, not a dramatic exploration of them. And history without psychological motivation (as Shakespeare well knew) offers no insight or true analysis into the events depicted; rendering them tableau vivant and – as here – mere ballets of death. No matter the sheer technical beauty of the latter they are not enough to engross.

On the plus side, the spectacle is pretty explosive and the Germans are their usual cocksure, well dressed and determined selves. But, despite everything, the ultimate visual and aural compensation of this movie is the Supermarine Spitfire – the best-looking aeroplane ever made.

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Copyright © 2010 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Cookie’s Fortune (1998)

80%

(http://rachelleandcinema.blogspot.co.uk)

Delicious slice of Southern Gothic, but without Tennessee WILLIAMS’ underlying, morbidly-homosexual sensibility that reflects a less repressed and more positive outlook on life’s pleasures. A paean to the benefits and joys of miscegenation that is deliberately designed to irritate and annoy White supremacists.

Screenwriter Anne RAPP really knows how to recreate a community life she must be readily familiar with, as the slow aggregation of details deliberately mounts up with the deft strokes of her efficient pen. Her theme is essentially misplaced family pride that kills the thing it tries to protect by trying too hard to conceal family secrets that are already well-known. It is just that people have enough self-respect and common courtesy not to mention them. Nevertheless, it is the knowledge that other people know of these things that is so frightening and leads to the self destructive behavior on show here.

The cultural and political snobbery the screenwriter successfully lampoons is of the particularly vicious kind that destroys lives in the errant belief that reputations for being perfect are more important than ordinary human reality; leading to self-destructive one-upmanship.

This is the kind of warm writing that attracts good actors to work for little money to show off their skills for the sheer hell of making movies. And hopefully ones that will be remembered long after the well-paid crap is long forgotten.

The ensemble cast are all excellent, since director Robert Altman usually chooses his performers well. For once, Liv TYLER is a believably-spunky tomboy and not just her usual piece of set decoration; while the sisters played by Julianne MOORE and Glenn CLOSE not-so-secretly loathe each other a la Bette DAVIS and Joan CRAWFORD in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

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Copyright © 2010 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.

Ishqiya (2010)

60%

Marriage - Indian Style

Reasonable and metaphorical film about the pleasures and pains of heterosexual marriage with an unfocused plot that cannot decide whether to be more serious than jokey.

The two key performances are excellent - Vidya BALAN and Naseeruddin SHAH - as they are both able to overcome the scripts shortcomings with subtle portrayals of people in difficult situations without resorting to the excessive melodramatic ticks that can usually bedevil Bollywood cinema.

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Copyright © 2010 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.