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HARRIET (2019) FILM REVIEW

11/24/2019

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***

12A, 125 Mins

A powerhouse performance from Cynthia Erivo can't lift this sanitized biopic.
"Great performance, shame about the film" is a familiar cliche when it comes to reviewing sub-par biopics. At best, biographical dramas can provide in-depth insights into the psyches of historical icons (think 'Raging Bull' (1980)). At worst, they're entirely built around a skin-inhabiting central performance tailored towards awards attention at the expense of a cohesive narrative (think 'Darkest Hour' (2018)).

In its opening moments, 'Harriet' (2019) - which tells the heroic true story of slave-turned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman and her 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people - pitches itself as having a tad more meat than the standard biographical formula. Its early scenes are gruellingly unflinching in their depiction of the back-breaking brutality of slavery; redolent of the horror movie-esque human toll that made '12 Years A Slave' (2013) such an eye-opener. The soundtrack too is mesmerising; conveying a haunting mix of pathos and tragedy through the goosebump-heavy paeans of gospel.
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Holding the whole thing together is a powerhouse performance from Cynthia Erivo who utterly disappears into the part of Tubman with almost hysterical conviction. Having been brilliant in Steve McQueen's 'Widows' (2018) and Drew Goddard's 'Bad Times at the El Royale' (2018), there's no doubt that this will be the role to draw the 32 year old actress to OSCAR recognition. Not least because it's absolutely the kind of performance the Academy loves being one in which a historical figure has to suffer for their craft!

The film too is, for the most part, absolute production line "OSCAR bait" which turns out to be its greatest failing. Despite being an African American herself, Director Kasi Lemmons's by-the-book approach to telling this story beat-by-beat, trope-by-trope mimics the unadultered treatment that several white film-makers have resorted to when making films about black culture; averse to any risks so as not to roughen the smooth, stately road to awards glory.

Beyond the film's harrowing opener, the only flashes of the raw bones of the slave trade are a bizarre combination of fainting fits and hokey hallucinations with several scenes involving Tubman collapsing to the ground only to be plagued by spiritual-esque visions of her past slave life. Those familiar with Tubman's tale will know that she suffered a blow to the head which led her to suffer vivid dreams she described as premonitions from God. That may well have been Director Lemmons's intention to imitate here. However - unlike 'Judy' (2019) which recently utilized flashbacks as a means of delving deep into Judy Garland's childhood traumas - the relationship between the real and surreal here feels jarring and tonally inconsistent with the subject matter.

Basically this biopic rests entirely on its star's shoulders and should easily propel her to the big prize. Yet a little more grit wouldn't have gone amiss to make this slightly sanitized take on a horrifying tale feel a tad more, well, important.

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21 BRIDGES (2019) FILM REVIEW

11/24/2019

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**

15, 99 Mins

Scathing police violence commentary is secondary to generic genre tropes.
You would think Directors Joe and Anthony Russo would be smugly patting themselves on the back and taking a well-earned vacation with the $2.798 billion for 'The Avengers: Endgame' (2019) under their belt, but Hollywood's two most bankable film-makers have decided to go small, stripped down and simple for their follow-up project.

'21 Bridges' (2019) which the Russo brothers produced and 'Game of Thrones' director Brian Kirk helms represents distinctly unfranchisy big screen material. It's essentially a trashy straight-to-dvd B-movie that just happens to be holstered by Box Office draws both behind and in front of the camera. Chadwick "Black Panther" Boseman embodies your routine round of maverick detective battling divorce, Alimony and Alcoholism while on the trail of two cop killers who gunned down high-ranking officers.

There's plenty of space for scathing commentary on violence against police in the USA which has risen to staggering statistics of 106 officers killed since 2018. What's disappointing is that such commentary is secondary to genre tropes involving generic  running, jumping and shooting.

It's all tapered by clunky, expositionary dialogue and melodramatic acting. Having been brilliant in 'Black Panther' (2018), Boseman appears to have allowed his new-found A-list prowess to go to his head. He overracts like a cackling hyena - especially in an ill-conceived shoot em' up climax featuring a woeful turn from Sienna Miller. I felt like hurling myself from the balcony of the auditorium when the much-hyped, but disgracefully lazy twist was revealed minutes before the credits rolled.

Arguably casual ticket-buyers craving cheap Friday night thrills won't be short-changed, but I expect more from the Russo Brothers who managed to turn the most financially successful movie of all time into a wounded Greek tragedy. By contrast, this is nothing more than cookie cutter stuff.



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THE REPORT (2019) FILM REVIEW

11/17/2019

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***

15, 119 Mins

Timely torture thriller is too procedural for the big screen.
Awards for most redundant movie title are in order for 'The Report' (2019) which - like its title - is too bogged down in perfunctory procedure to function as a note-worthy cinematic experience. It's directed and scripted by Scott Z. Burns who made his mark penning 'The Bourne Ultimatum' (2007) and is due shortly to be screened to Amazon Prime subscribers which is telling of its made-for-TV feel.

Adam Driver is the suited and booted real-life Senate staffer Daniel Jones who  - along with the Senate Intelligence Committee - investigated the CIA's use of torture following 9/11. There's no question the themes present are timely in the wake of barefaced lies fed to us by Trump and Johnson and the film suppliments this with graphic sequences of water-boarding and sleep deprivation. These flashbacks add a hefty news-worthy grit to proceedings that never once feel exploitative of the harrowing subject matter.

Adam Driver delivers a credible performance which - though short of the lip-trembling bravurra of his turn in this week's 'Marriage Story' (2019) - provides a hyper-realist no nonsense conviction essential for portraying a dedicated civil servant. He's ably backed by Annette Bening who is superb as Senator Dianne Feinstein who selected him for the investigation.

The faults lie less in the topics, but more in their execution. 

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LAST CHRISTMAS (2019) FILM REVIEW

11/17/2019

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**

12A, 103 Mins

A tame turkey with stuffings of misplaced meat.
There's none more sobering a critical cliche than saying a film's "heart is in the right place". Virtually everything seemed in the right place for me to fall in love with 'Last Christmas' (2019). It's directed by Paul Feig whose witty penchant for women's liberation amidst gross-out humour lifted the bawdy hen party escapades of 'Bridesmaids' (2011) and spectacular espionage orgy of 'Spy' (2015). It's scripted by Emma Thompson - an actress who makes crying on command the stuff of Shakespearean sonnet.

I'm a massive sucker for mushy rom-coms. Specifically for mushy rom-coms that make use of snow-swept London locations as bedding for a cosy serving of Christmas pudding. It's ironic then that - for a film with so much in the "right place" - so much of 'Last Christmas' is so utterly misplaced.

Emilia Clarke is on her usual insufferably whimsy form as Kate - a Yugoslavian immigrant who strangely speaks in the snottiest RP English accent while her parents (Thompson and Boris Isakovic) drawl catastrophically caricatured Eastern European vowells. She's supposedly an aspiring singer although her grand ambitions are cast aside so the film can spend laboured time in her day job as a sales elf in a Covent Garden Christmas store. A store managed with waspish pickiness by Michelle Yeoh.

​It's no surprise that Kate hates her job yet - for some utterly unexplained reason - proceeds to tip-toe around London in her green elf outfit in every scene. Perhaps a tall, dark, handsome stranger (Henry Golding) is all she needs to solve her lack of career satisfaction yet the two have about as much chemistry as the trunks of two Xmas trees!

It's obvious what Director Feig's intentions are as he attempts to emulate the schmaltzy seasonal concoctions of the best Richard Curtis movies whether they be 'Love, Actually' (2003) or the beloved "nice boys don't kiss like that" ending scene of 'Bridget Jones's Diary' (2001). Like those movies, 'Last Christmas' has a rather warped world view where financial hardship is a quiet day at the shop, it's always snowing and a passion for music cures terminal illness!

I wouldn't have a problem with this as - after all - Christmas is all about finding "love, actually" in the most perillous of times. Something we could all do with considering the current state of the nation. It's unfortunate therefore that what poses as escapist entertainment has to be saddled with a fatuously forced subplot about Xenophobia and Brexit - hardly what you want from a slice of festive fruit cake and a seemingly desperate attempt to add a bit of meat to the stuffings of a tame Turkey!

There's been much talk too about the addition of George Michael and Wham! to the soundtrack with this film being the fifth cinematic outing in the past year to exploit the back-catalogue of a world-renowned singing sensation. Thompson even supposedly got Michael's blessing to write the film with his tracks before his tragic death in 2016. 

And yet - while 'Rocketman' (2019), 'Yesterday' (2019) and 'Blinded by the Light' (2019) made inspired use of classics from Elton John, The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen as a clever plot device to varying degrees of success - Michael's music drowns out any creative relevance at every opportunity. The only reasoning behind the inclusion of the artist's greatest hits is a throwaway line referencing the titular "Last Christmas I gave you my heart". A catalyst for an outrageously ill-judged 'Fight Club'-style twist that had me breaching any cinematic decorum by proclaiming a very loud and very exasperated "NO!" within a packed auditorium.

Rarely has a movie-going experience had me balling out tears of such sadness. Not well-earned sadness, though, at the film's rampant ploys to tickle the heart strings, rather sorrow that something so promising could leave one so bitterly disappointed. Watching every second of 'Last Christmas', you can literally yourself dying!
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LE MANS '66 (2019) FILM REVIEW

11/17/2019

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***

12A, 152 Mins

Crunchy car drama is less racy off the track.
I'd be fibbing if I were to say I know or frankly care about anything to do with cars or racing which perhaps set myself up for falling out of touch with James Mangold's crunchy, but empty 'Le Mans '66' (2019) which lacks the petrol to propel it beyond its undeniably spectacular circuit laps.

Building on the hot n' cold chemistries of 'Senna' (2011), 'Rush' (2013) and 'Borg vs. McEnroe' (2017), this has an art vs. commercial partnership at its centre between the hot-headed impulses of Christian Bale's "Brummie" driver Ken Miles and the cool, corporate calculations of Matt Damon's American automative designer Carol Shelby. They team up to "build a car to beat Ferrrrari...with a Ford" at the 1966 24 hours at Le Mans and the film is certainly at its raciest when grinding gears on the track.

Through a combination of scraping tires skidding on concrete and "vroomtastic" volumes of churning engines, Director Mangold bone-crunchingly choreographes the chaos against Rolling Stone-inflected guitars. There's a melodiousness to the action which brings back jukebox memories of the musical madness that made Edgar Wright's 'Baby Driver' (2017) such a fantastically immersive experience. Where the 'Fast and Furious' films have fast cars achieving impossible stunts without a smidgen of physical heft, however, this puts audiences directly in the driver's seats and throttles them around with ultra-realistic life and death stakes that naturally come with Formula 1-style racing.

An IMAX viewing is a must, but I only wish some of the off-track drama was as exciting. Like 'The Aeronauts' (2019), the key to this film succeeding or not comes down to whether it has beef as well as bang for your buck. Something which 'Le Mans '66' only has the latter of. 

A sense of plodding procedure clouds the lengthy company meeting scenes that feel distracting and, dare I say, "boring" when contrasted with the glitz and glamour of the fast lane. Car manufacturing is, again, a subject I know nothing about so perhaps wasn't tailored to my tastes, but a great work of commercial cinema is able to transcend distinctly uncinematic material and make it accessible to a mainstream audience. 

As mentioned, the film's core hot n' cold duo has been done to death in the movies and pulling it off requires an original edge to its execution. Matt Damon is surprisingly understated as Shelby, but Christian Bale cuts himself an off-date slice of ham in a role which's cartoony Birmingham dialect spins half dozen geographical laps of the UK. I never once believed I was watching anything more than a caricature of a motoring icon which is hard to believe coming from an actor prized for his methodical ability to bodily transform into a part.

​Bale's overwrought performance sums up the puncture that prevents this film from speeding to the finish line. For all its petrolheaded panache, it all runs like a formulaic vehicle manufactured solely for Academy award consideration.

​10/10 for the cars, 7 for the drama...


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THE GOOD LIAR (2019) FILM REVIEW

11/10/2019

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***

15, 109 Mins

007 for the 'Upstairs, Downstairs' generation.
"John Le Carre meets Bletchley Park" might be the preferred pitch, but "007 for the 'Upstairs, Downstairs' generation" is the more apt headline to describe this preposterous, but hugely enjoyable espionage thriller from Director Bill Condon ('Beauty and the Beast' (2017), 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2' (2011-2012)).

Ian McKellan makes a credible shot at a kind of pensioner's James Bond in the role of shambolic conman Roy Courtney whose coy demeanor hides his murky motivations. His Bond girl is none other than Dame Helen Mirren as a glamourous retiree who weaves her way into his life via a dating website.

For a film entitled 'The Good Liar', it's amusing how bad this film is at lying to its audiences. You'll spot both the major twists within seconds of the vaguely Hitchcockian opening credits; the latter of which will have you exasperatedly breaking any cinematic code of conduct.

Tonally, it's a wildly inconsistent affair with its Home Counties setting and Violin-esque score giving off the air of an episode of 'Midsummer Murders' (1997-). Such safe stateliness is roughned up, though, by sporadic moments of geezerish, Guy Ritchie-style violence - highly unexpected given the rather quaint marketing campaign.

And yet - for all its faults (and there are many) - 'The Good Liar' never fails to be spectacularly entertaining froth. Director Condon directs with a stedate confidence that allows the whole thing to bowl along leisurely; pit-stopping at a wide range of European locations that provide plenty of glitz for the eye.

Ultimately, however, the key to the film's succes - with all its preposterous plotting - lies in the sizzling chemistry of two of Britain's most esteemed thespians who chew up every spec of scenery with audacious aplomb. In an age where meatheaded action flicks deliver wet dreams for ADHD-addled adolescents, it's a joy to see an unashamed potboiler featuring elderly actors that will give 65+ Britons a valid reason to head to their local picturehouse for a thoroughly unpretentious night-out. Hopefully they'll enjoy it as much as I did.

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    Meet Roshan Chandy

    Freelance Film Critic and Writer based in Nottingham, UK. Specialises in Science Fiction cinema.

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