Tag Archives: Carey Mulligan

Top Five Films Of 2011

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Well okay, maybe that title is somewhat inaccurate. These are my top five films of the year; the ones that moved me, thrilled me, chilled me and left me bowled over by the endless power of the movies. Obviously I didn’t get a chance to see everything that came out though I like to think I gave as much effort as I could to see stuff from across the spectrum of releases. I don’t expect everyone to agree with my choices; one of them I know has incensed arguably more people than it has awed. But like I say it is my humble opinion. Agree or disagree to your content…

1) THE TREE OF LIFE

Terrance Malick’s fifth and most ambitious feature to date, feels like something that we may never see again; a $30 million mainstream film that unashamedly confronts the meaning of life, the cruelty of death, the absence of faith and belief in the divine. Audiences today are so used to having narrative drip thread to them that the astonishingly loose and flowing construction of The Tree Of Life led to outright hostility from many critics and audience members. Despite my initial bewilderment at it through, it stayed with me through the months and on repeat viewings has grown into a profound and deeply moving work. Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain are extraordinary as a married couple bestowing their differing views on life to their children. What follows is overwhelming vision of the minutia of family life compared with nothing less than the birth of life itself. For me The Tree Of Life does what cinema should do; it takes the most intimate, recognisable aspects we understand and contrasts them against something unfeasibly epic, powerful and ultimately incredibly moving.

2) DRIVE

Roaring out of Cannes like the greatest Michael Mann film that Michael Mann never made, Nicolas Winding Refn’s sleek, blood splattered romantic fairytale captured the hearts of minds of critic and audiences alike. Ryan Gosling truly cements his star status with a near mute role as a stunt driver by day and getaway driver by night who goes up against the LA underworld (personified by a spectacular and unexpected villainous turn by Albert Brooks) when he falls for troubled Carey Mulligan. The two worlds of the story smack head into each other in a spectacular climactic scene in an elevator. The scenes of extreme violence could have been too alienating yet Refn directs with such flair and panache that nearly every scene makes you hairs stand on end. Throw in the best soundtrack of the year hands down and you have an instant cult classic. I walked out of it like i was walking on air.

3) MELANCHOLIA

It could have been overshadowed by director Lars Von Trier’s poor taste in humour at this year’s Cannes Film Festival but thankfully his intimate apocalyptic drama is strong enough to stand on its own feet as an astonishing singular vision of brilliance. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg are terrific as two frigid sisters both thrown together by a disastrous wedding and then the arrival of a rogue planet on a collision course with Earth. Filmed in a woozy, dream like palette with very deliberate framing and hauntingly beautiful compositions it takes the difficult subject of depression and manages extraordinarily to turn into a transcendent and oddly uplifting experience.

4) WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

Arguably the boldest novel adaptation of the year, British director Lynne Ramsey makes a stunning return to screens with a disorientating and devastating tale of a women living in the shadow of her monstrous son and terrible crime he has committed. Tilda Swinton is reliably brilliant conveying both the mother’s dawning horror at steadily disturbing events and the guilt that she feels for not showing the love she should have for the child. It’s a role that most actresses would have balked at yet Swinton plays it with such mesmerising confidence. As good as she is though the film arguably belongs to Ezra Miller as the teenage Kevin who beneath a seemingly innocent, sweet veneer chills to the very bone. Hopefully we won’t have to wait so long for Ramsey to release her next work.

5) CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

Having dragged a steamer over a mountain, travelled to the furthest reaches of the Amazon and Antarctica acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog goes into the depths of the Chauvet Cave in southern France to document not only it’s astounding geographical presence but also the oldest cave paintings known to man, perhaps they are the beginning of art itself. Shown in 3D at cinemas, I caught up with the film in 2D and was still floored by the beauty and skill with which Herzog examines these paintings as well as the brilliantly dry wit in his unmistakeable Bavarian drawl as he spends time with the familial team of scientists living in the shadow of the caves and simple yet deeply profound musings on the passing of time and the origins of these extraordinary drawings. When it comes to the vision of nature itself, Herzog is rarely topped.

Shame Review

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When talking about a film like Shame, I guess you have to address the controversy head on. This film has a lot of sex in it. And so it should. It’s a film about sex addicts – how else would you film it. To have the sex off screen would go against main intention of this film – to bring this addiction to the public. To stop it from being seen as shameful.

And so the film does. While the sex scenes are many and explicit, they are undercut by a sadness, which stops them ever feeling sexy or exploitative.

The film centre on Michael Fassebender’s sex addict, Brandon, who gets a surprise visit from his sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan). Something has happened to the both of them in the past (there are suggestions of incest) that has sent them down very different, but equal damaged, paths.

Carey’s Sissy is also suffering, but she’s ‘regular crazy’ – crying on the phone to her boyfriend, self harming, needy, unreliable. She’s the kind of person who comes seeking help, because she has socially acceptable issues. And so she turns to big brother Brandon, hoping he’ll help, because, from the outside he seems like a dependable sort of guy. He’s well dressed, successful, charming and very likeable.

However, this is only the surface. Beneath lies someone in need of help as much as his sister. Yet, while his addiction is just as harmful to his life, almost costing him his job, damaging his relationships with women, and getting him a good beating, he cannot seek help because sex addiction is not something people can comfortably talk about.

In fact, I’m sure there’s many of you reading this now saying, ‘So what, he like’s sex – who doesn’t?’ But what Fassebender’s excellent portrayal shows is that he doesn’t like sex. He enjoys himself while in the act, but as soon as he’s finished, he’s thinking about the next, bigger, more exciting hit.

Shame is not necessarily a film many will want to watch again. It’s not harrowing in the way many drug dramas are, or hard hitting, but it is undeniably sad. Not miserable, more melancholy. It’s almost like Brandon agrees with the public – that his problem shouldn’t be an issue. That he should just deal with it.

But instead, he just hides it. While his boss cheats on his wife, sleeps with Brandon’s sister, and is in general a bit of a sleaze bag, Brandon, to all intents and purposes, is a good guy.

This is the beauty of Fassbender’s performance. You believe the switch from nice guy on a date, to tortured addict during a threesome. But it’s no Jekyll and Hyde. These aren’t too sides to a personality, they are one man. Everything he does in his life is based around sex. Every look on the tube, every time he gets home to his flat, every toilet break at work.

While the subject matter might not be to everyone’s taste, this film should be seen. In a genius piece of marketing, the poster for Shame is a mirror. For we all have our secrets – and this film shows that we need to confront those demons, or have them take us over.

Drive {Film Review}

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There is nothing quite like a film by Nicolas Winding Refn to be compared with! The strange eerie blur of reality and surrealism, often combined together to make a bizarre and ever-lasting experience. Drive, which is based on the novel of the same name by James Sallis, was an experience like you take a scenic route in the calm areas and then get assaulted with its throttled engine when speeding up the highway. If there’s anything these type of movies that get it right, it’s from the writing and directing. I can also say it was a damn good experience to watch!

The story is about a nameless person, only goes by the name of ‘Driver’ (Ryan Gosling); during the day, he’s a part-time stunt performer and mechanic at an auto-repair shop (owned by Shannon, played by ‘Breaking Bad”s Bryan Cranston) but by night, he serves as a getaway driver for heists. Meanwhile, he slowly gets to know Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio. The ‘Driver’ gets involved into another job but it, unfortunately, goes horribly wrong.

Ryan Gosling delivers a subtle performance as the man with no name, you can sense there is something much deeper in him than you may think. He is motivated on the simple things in life, never regrets anything and keeps on going on living. The interactions between Gosling and Mulligan may have little to no dialogue but it is sweet and gentle. It doesn’t resort to conventional smutlzy romance we’re all accustomed to, it comes off something natural and Mulligan brings the heart to the film. Though the scene-stealer is from Albert Brooks, who plays the brutally honest Bernie Rose. He’s not the stereotypical mobster, he’s the type of man who’d kill someone if he had to but would do it as a last resort. The rest of the supporting cast are all superb in their own right, have little screen-time but all have their own importance to the story.

Newton Thomas Sigel’s cinematography is absolutely gorgeous to look at, from the various night shots of L.A. to the car chases (only two of them through-out the duration). There are moments where you are transfixed to its beauty and you are also tensed when it comes to the chases. The editing is very put together, not too fast paced so we get a clear idea on what’s going on within the scene. It all makes homages to the classic 60s/70s car chases of ‘Bullitt’ etc. It all just puts the ‘Fast and the Furious’ franchise into shame and Refn just shows how it’s all done. The soundtrack is equally as superb, capturing the essence of its pulpy story-line but also delivering this dreamy quality that maybe represents the ‘Driver’s’ psyche.

Overall; easily one of the best movies of 2011 and such a unique film that serves as both art-house and pulp cinema! Refn is one of the best living filmmakers to date and should get recognised for his direction in this film. It doesn’t rely on the spectacle, it relies on the craft of the writing and performances.

4 out of 5