The biggest surprise to me was Animal Kingdom (2010, MC-83), which I put in the category of Red Riding Trilogy as films that ought to be loathsome in their violence and corruption, but actually approach the pity and terror that is the point of such drama. David Michôd’s debut crime thriller follows the disintegration of a Melbourne family of not-so-goodfellas, with their pride -- preying and preyed upon -- led by a dowdy old lioness, a seductive and deceptively sweet grandma named Smurf (believably embodied by Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver with a bleach-blond mane). She takes in her 17-year-old grandson when her estranged daughter ODs on heroin. He comes under the wing of his uncles, for whom armed robbery (as in The Town) is the family trade, though threatened by cops more eager for the kill than the collar. This grimy, unglamorous revenge tragedy plays out in a sunny suburban landscape of gas stations and supermarkets, yet remains hypnotically absorbing through its twists and turns, feints and blows. Character, even when creepy, is more important than action. The acting is good across the board, though only Guy Pearce, as an unusually honest cop, is a familiar face.
Also worthy of note is Lebanon (2010, MC-85). Written and directed by Samuel Maoz, this film -- like Waltz With Bashir – is a personal reminiscence of being a very raw Israeli conscript in the 1982 war in Lebanon. The particular novelty here is that the entire film is shot from a viewpoint inside an armored vehicle, so it does for tanks what Das Boot did for submarines, evoking a claustrophobic atmosphere so dense you can smell and taste it. In some ways the film is as formulaic as a play, as one character after another drops through the porthole for a scene or two with the four typically assorted crew members, but the gunner’s-scope view of chaotic battles and civilian devastation seems particularly potent and powerfully evokes the director’s personal experience. Not a must-see, but worth a look if the subject interests you.
Creation (2010, MC-51) is one film I endorse more warmly than the Metacritic average. I found Paul Bettany quite convincing as Darwin and Jon Amiel’s direction good at evoking wonderment in the face of nature and portraying a plausible struggle to write. Bettany’s wife, Jennifer Connolly, serves as Darwin’s pious and severe wife, who dreads publication of his ideas. Marsha West (daughter of “McNutty” on The Wire) is engaging as the deceased child whose ghost haunts and inspires Darwin. I wouldn’t say this rises far above a good BBC television production, but it certainly held my interest and more, intellectually convincing despite some sentimental contrivance.
I part company with the critical consensus in the opposite direction on Dogtooth (2010, MC-73), a prizewinner at Cannes and nominee from Greece for Best Foreign Film. I confess I was slow to get the point of this fable of horrific parenting by Giorgos Lanthimos, but by the time I got over its sheer weirdness, I was put off by several scenes of shocking violence, gratuitous or not (less so by the graphic sex). So be forewarned about this story of three post-adolescent children who are kept sequestered in a gated compound, and whose isolation is enforced down to being taught nonsense meanings to words that might suggest a world outside. You could take this as a very bleak black comedy, or you could just leave it.
For You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010, MC-51), my “meh” response pretty much matched the critical average. I’m not sure why I keep watching Woody Allen, as he obsessively recycles his material year after year. There’s always an intriguing cast, and a smoothly delivered veneer, but never anything new being said. Naomi Watts made this one tolerable to watch, though Anthony Hopkins could do nothing with the hackneyed role of the old guy besotted with a young hottie, and several other familiar faces are wasted. We follow a group of loosely-related characters for an hour and a half, and then the narrator throws up his hands and closes the proceedings abruptly. I couldn’t believe that was it, that these desultory sketches were supposed to add up to a feature film.
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