Film Club 15 [RIP]

Tomboy is a French coming-of-age drama from Water Lilies director, Célina Sciamma, about a young girl pretending to be a boy. Whilst the film naturally raises questions about gender and sexuality it is less interested in finding answers and more in documenting the problems that arise from such lies (first love, going swimming, toilet issues etc.) particularly when the lies begin to escalate. It is a slight but perfectly formed feature, small in scale but sweet and intimate. The film was shot over a short summer period and the film is bathed in perpetual sunlight evoking memories of the endless summers of childhood. Although the story could have leant itself to a more sensationalist style, Tomboy is pleasingly grounded in a familiar reality. The characters are all totally believable and the natural performances are pitch perfect.

Endearing, touching and beautifully judged.

12 reasons why 12 Angry Men is the best film of the 1950s:

1. It’s a high concept film that delivers beyond the unique hook to create compelling and flawed human characters.

2. The performances are sensational from Henry Fonda (empathetic and unwavering) attempting to change the minds of the other jurors, to the rest of the cast led by Lee J. Cobb. Considering it has such a sizeable main cast it is amazing how well developed each and everyone of them is with the lean script giving each of the perfectly cast actors a moment to shine.

3. It uses the claustrophobic single location to great effect, accentuating the sweltering heat and tense atmosphere amongst the conflicted men.

4. You never see the defendant. It is an interesting choice that removes the audience’s prejudices from affecting how they view the film.

5. It’s a constantly twisting plot that keeps you glued to the edge of your seat and even attempts to challenge your own morals beliefs and prejudices.

6. But it still delivers a triumphant feel-good finale unlike any other film.

7. The film is chock-full of amazing and quotable dialogue.

8. 12 Angry Men manages to be both an indictment of the American judicial system and racial inequality and the system’s greatest advocate.

9. It is deceptively simple yet expertly crafted with a tight script, meticulous direction and career best performances.

10. It is a film for even those who ‘don’t do’ old movies. A genuinely universal film that will appeal to anybody.

11. Sidney Lumet never tries to show off his prowess as a director. Yet whilst it is unflashy it still remains very cinematic and, along with Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, is arguably the greatest directorial debut in film history.

12. It is both timely and timeless, a rare feat in cinema.

The verdict is unanimous; 12 Angry Men is a bona fide masterpiece.

Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt is undoubtedly a good film but I’m unconvinced that it is a great one. The sensationalist but sensitively handled plot centres on a male nursery teacher, Lucas, accused of sexually abusing one of his pupils. Despite the lack of evidence, lies spread throughout the small community as his life slowly unravels. It is a story that plays on modern social issues - the fear of sexual predators, baseless witch hunts and social prejudices - as a man’s life is ruined by the distortion of a child’s little lie.

Despite a potentially tabloid-bothering plot the film is a thoughtful and worryingly plausible examination of a community’s hysteria at hearing such an accusation. The little girl’s lie, made because her teacher made her feel foolish, is coaxed and twisted out of her by her parents and the authorities. As rumours spread so do the stories and more fabricated claims of abuse. Vinterberg and co-writer, Tobias Lindholm, convincingly escalate the drama and tension with the town’s reaction being dishearteningly realistic. The film neatly plays on the audience’s own prejudices questioning how you would react in a similar situation.

Because the innocence of the protagonist is never in doubt it allows the audience to empathise with his plight and the injustices he faces. Irrespective of evidence the wild claims from a jealous child are enough to convince those around him that he is a monster. However, the film does a decent job of painting the rest of the community as victims of their own hysteria and paranoia, particularly the parents of the accuser who are Lucas’ best friends and are conflicted by believing their five-year old daughter and knowing their lifelong friend. Yet one of the film’s key problems for me is that it plays out exactly as you would expect. Once you know the synopsis there are few genuine surprises to be had. Whilst part of the film’s success lies in how plausible the reaction is it could still have been just as convincing without always resorting to the obvious.

Mads Mikkelsen as the accused is fantastic, delivering one of his best performances in years. Stoic in the face of unjustified hate yet broken by the physical and emotional abuse delivered by the people he considered friends. Even with a few people still by his side he cuts a forlorn and lonely figure confused and shattered by baseless accusations. The young, Annika Wedderkopp, as the little girl who begins the whole sorry affair is also excellent, delivering a natural and unaffected performance in an incredibly difficult role.

Sadly, I found the film’s final act particularly disappointing. For a film to go as far as it did to then deliver such a neat climax, even with its jolting coda, is frustrating. Vinterberg plays on the paranoia of social conditioning yet in the end it is all resolved in such a manufactured way that it lost credibility for me, particularly given the convenient time of year it occurs in. The film’s closing scene does go some way to fixing such a pat resolution but sadly it was not quite enough.

The Hunt is a film with strong performances, compelling characters and a timely story yet marred by a safe final act.

Following the breakout success of the first movie, director Gareth Evans has gone large in every possible way with his sequel. The Raid 2 is no simple retread of the first film, clumsily shoehorning in Rama, the resilient good cop, into yet another claustrophobic encounter against insurmountable odds. Instead, Evans has broadened the canvas to explore the wider criminal world of Jakarta and its ties to a corrupt police force.

I should be applauding the director’s instincts to not simply rest on his laurels and repeat past glories but instead I’ve been left frustrated by his creative choices as we are treated to a flabby action epic devoid of emotional stakes and reliant on a hoary family crime saga we’ve seen a hundred times before. Picking up immediately after the original film, Rama is forced to go undercover with the crooks of Indonesia’s capital to bring down the syndicate from the inside and reveal police corruption.

As a springboard for a bruising action film it is perfectly serviceable but Evans seems less interested in Rama’s double life than he is about the tired machinations of warring clans and ambitious sons with daddy issues. As the two and a half hours slowly tick by it becomes more and more evident that the story originally had little to do with the first film. Instead, Rama is retrofitted into a story he doesn’t belong and even Evans doesn’t really seem sure what to do with his supposedly leading character.

Unfortunately, Rama is a man constantly sidelined in his own story as the audience is forced to sit through a substandard crime drama with star, Iko Uwais, only getting to use his fists on a handful of occasions. Despite the paucity of character development in the first film you did at least feel invested in Rama’s fight for survival. Here, he is simply a background figure with very little importance to the overall narrative.

I should feel bad for criticising an action film for its poor plot but Evans spends so much time and effort on it that The Raid 2 is not simply a bone-crunching action movie but something with far grander ambitions and it is all the worse for it. If you are going to tell an epic crime drama then don’t rely solely on well worn cliches and try to create memorable characters that we can connect with, be they those we root for or simply despise. Sadly, this indulgent sequel fails to deliver any of these basic requirements.

I’m supposed to be reviewing an action film yet five paragraphs in and I’ve barely mentioned the fighting. I can’t deny that there are a number of spectacularly staged and exhilarating set pieces spread thinly throughout the film. Evans knows how to stage a fight and he works with choreographers who deliver innovative and crunching sequences. Yet many of these set pieces still feel so separate to the rest of the movie as if they have been thrown in because they need a cool moment rather than have importance to the progression of the story. These sequences are often action for the sake of action as bad men brutally beat up bad men whilst the emotional stakes are all but forgotten.

Evans throws in several cool moments but they rarely add anything significant to the film. A perfect example of this is the cartoonish and colourful team of Hammer Girl and Baseball Bat Man who make an impression with their novel choice of weapons but ultimately serve very little purpose to the story. It’s no surprise that the two best set pieces (a crazy car chase and a kitchen showdown) are those that actually have some rare audience investment when the hero is actually put in a life or death situation. As smartly choreographed as all the other sequences are they prove to be passive experiences as their outcome never really matters.

Unlike the relentless breakneck pacing of the first film, Evans takes a more measured approach to proceedings but even when distracted by another brutal encounter the movie feels sluggish and needlessly long. Even the action seems more sadistic this time around (which is impressive when the original film was hardly shy when it came to gratuitous violence) making it harder to revel in the choreographed carnage.

If my review seems harsh it is only because I hoped for so much more. The Raid was the kick in the face the action genre needed but this sequel, for all its ambitions, simply frustrates more than it entertains.