I became interested in the films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa when I saw his horror film Pulse . It wasn’t the horror that interested me, but the feeling of alienation and the mood that ran through it as well as the structure and the way it was shot. I sought out his other films and they were even more intriguing often with clever twists on genres. With Bright Future he’s created a film that is difficult to describe other than to say that it’s about youth with a story told in a laid-back, almost documentary style. It’s a beautiful film that is enigmatic and haunting that always kept me a bit curious and uneasy.
Bright Future is about a set of characters who are gradually introduced as we see the connections between them as well as the things that keep them apart. One thing leads to another as connections are broken and made in sometimes surprising ways. I’m glad that I didn’t know a lot about the film before I saw it as I didn’t know what to expect and was curious to see what was happening as I tried to understand it as well. It’s a haunting film that isn’t afraid to leave questions unanswered.

I’d heard about Son of Rambow long before I saw it, but I loved the idea of two boys in the UK in the 1980s making their own Rambo film. It’s from the same team that made the film of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and it seemed like a neat and smaller way to follow up a big budget Hollywood film.
When it was finally playing nearby I slipped out of work a bit early to see it in the afternoon and I was the only person in the theatre, which was a shame as it’s a lovely little film.
It manages to balance the 80s nostalgia with complex characters and a story that was a lot more substantial and subtle than I thought it would be. It’s a tough film to market as it balances comedy and drama in a story about children that isn’t really intended for children. I remember the 80s and I remember the joy that I felt in seeing films and acting out scenes with friends and how much different the experience was before DVDs and being able to buy movies on your computer.
Why aren’t there more films that tell smaller stories about interesting people?

I don’t really remember when I first saw the “Get Smart” tv show and the catchphrases and style of the show was part of my pop culture awareness for as long as I can remember. With an adaptation of a 60s tv show it can strictly follow the template of the original or update things or go for camp. With the new Get Smart they rather surpringly manage to capture the spirit of the original while allowing the cast to bring something new to the characters. Steve Carrel works wonderfully as Maxwell Smart and doesn’t imitate Don Adams’ Smart, but manages to capture more of the attitude of his character, in a similar way to Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There. Carrel somehow manages to walk in a distinctive way that is perfect for the character. The film has a few clever nods to the original, but it wisely avoids becoming something exclusively for fans. It’s very funny and my son (who didn’t know about the original series) and I laughed a lot. It was a pleasant surprise and a very fun summer movie.

Jacques Becker’s final film, Le Trou is a sparse character portrait of men in a French prison who share a cell and plan on escaping. With no music and an understated precision to his direction, we gradually come to know each of the characters and their plan as Becker reveals the information that we need to know. The characters are quite complicated and the film resists the impulse to paint characters as good or bad, but is more concerned with portraying their humanity. The tension builds and we follow along with characters as we wonder if they will be successful. Becker was one of the French directors who preceded the Nouvelle Vague, but was admired by them for his portrayal of complex characters and French society.

Peter Watkins makes provocative films that fiercely criticize those in power and their institutions. Using documentary techniques along with improvisation and handheld cameras he creates powerful films that somehow transcend the limitations of both drama and documentary to come up with something that adds more to the debate and prompts you to think about and question what you see. In La Commune (Paris, 1871) Watkins uses a cast of a couple hundred people who improvise and reenact within the framework of the events surrounding the Paris Commune in 1851. The anachronistic narrative conceit that frames the story is television news as we see reports broadcast during the events. But the film moves from clever to brilliant as the lines between improvisation and reality are blurred as the crew asks the actors if they would do this now. It becomes at times an amazing look inside French society that shows that maybe things haven’t changed that much. Both historically and technically it’s a remarkable achievement that was spurned by broadcasters and will probably have a much larger audience over time through the DVD release.

Our past belongs to us, we can change it if we like.

Michel Gondry brings his distinctive sensibilities to Be Kind Rewind and creates a film that is about a community and people who love movies. With distinctive and somewhat naive characters who almost could have walked out of a film by Frank Capra, it has a sentimental feeling while not being overly sweet. While the promotion of the film seems to be setting it up as a Jack Black comedy, it’s a surprisingly sophisticated look at how we relate to each other through the movies that we love and our own history. I loved the film for the strange point of view and infectious optimism and how it reminds us that a film only exists with an audience.

It’s a bold idea to take the details of Bob Dylan’s life and music and to tell an episodic story with 6 different actors playing different versions of him. That’s what attracted me to the film as I appreciate Dylan’s music, but I’m not a huge fan. What surprised me was how much fun the film was and the skillful way that Todd Haynes was able to blend together the stories and clever allusions to different films and filmmmakers. So while I’m not well-versed in Dylan trivia, the cinematic trivia kept me interested and fascinated as biography, history and music swirled around. There aren’t a lot of biopics that have allusions to Fellini and quote dialogue from Godard.
Of all the Dylans in the film, Cate Blanchett is transcendent as Jude Quinn. When she shows up in the film it’s exciting and electric. Arriving home after the film a biography of Dylan was on the tv and seeing footage of Dylan from the time that Blanchett builds her character around made me think that she did a better job than Dylan himself.
It was a lot of fun and in many ways it’s a better way to explore the ideas and personas of Bob Dylan than a more traditional documentary.

I’m glad that I didn’t know (or didn’t remember) much about The Diving Bell and the Butterfly before I saw it as part of the wonder of the film is in the way that story is told and the surprises along the way. Visually and aurally stunning, it is a story of love and regret that isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen. With great performances throughout and a structure that blends impressions with a loose plot, it made me see, hear and feel the world in a different way after I left the theatre.

It’s a story that happened yesterday, but I know it’s tomorrow.

The Coen Brothers latest film, No Country for Old Men is a film that I’d been looking forward to for a while and I wasn’t disappointed. It did have a different tone than previous films by them, but in thinking about the film afterwards and remembering their other films, it took a while for the world of the films to click for me. Boldly constructed with a palpable tension during the entire film, it’s an examination of evil, greed and human nature that is a slightly different, but completely consistent with their other films.
With a creepily effective performance from Javier Bardem as well as excellent work by Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, and Kelly MacDonald, it’s focused on the characters and the decisions that they make. Coen fans will see elements of most of their films along with some quirky and understated humour. It’s a film that is close to perfect with every shot and moment essential to the film and while there is some violence in the film, the Coens deal with violence in the most responsible way of any filmmakers today. It’s a great film and it’s wonderful to see them working at the peak of their powers again.