PRECIOUS

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Gabourey Sidibe: 16-year-old Claireece “Precious” Jones
Mo’Nique: her mother Mary
Paula Patton: Ms. Rain, teacher at Each One Teach One alternative school
Xosha Roquemore: Joann, one of Precious’ Jamaican classmates
Angelic Zambrana: another classmate Consuelo, one with musical aspirations
Mariah Carey: welfare case worker Mrs. Weiss

REVIEW
This story of an ghetto teenager with wild ambitions trying to overcome enormous odds is riveting stuff. The acting is uniformly good but the Oscar-worthy performance by Mo’Nique, although not always easy to watch, is nothing short of amazing.

Mostly shot with a hand-held camera and often dimly lit, this technique captures the grim, desperate mood with expert realism. And speaking of realism: the use of the vernacular is well considered but might result in some of the dialogue not being well understood. However you will likely get the gist of it and so that should not be too much of a problem.

CLASSIFICATION
for sexual activity and pervasive language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
According to the opening intertitle these events took place in 1987. While touring a museum Precious sees posted on the wall the famous photo of the standoff in Tiananmen Square. That student protest did not come about until two years later in 1989.

P.S.
I’ve taken the editorial prerogative to truncate the full title (“Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”) as I think it serves no useful purpose to be told that the film is a work of fiction. To me, doing so undermines the fact so much of what we see in the film is all too real. People should be aware of that, not led to think for a moment that it’s all some make believe fairy tale. It is not.

LOVE AND SAVAGERY

Drama, romance

F.Y.I.
The Burren (Irish for “great rock”) is a region in northwest County Clare characterised by its distinctive karst topography, the result of the geological process over thousands of years of water dissolving the carbonate limestone bedrock.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Allan Hawco: Canadian geologist Michael McCarthy
Sarah Greene: barmaid Cathleen O'Connell
Macdara O'Fatharta: one of the locals who befriends Michael
Martha Burns: the Mother Superior
Sean Panting: Michael’s pal Wilfred

REVIEW
Right from the onset you know you’re in for a treat: along with the stunning views of the Irish west coast there is the ambient sound that so often gets lost amidst all the other elements of a movie.

And speaking of sound, the musical score is well done too and nicely complements this story of love set in the late ‘60’s, when traditional Irish values had yet to be supplanted by more modern ones.

I loved the pace at which things evolve, very much like real life instead of the all- pervasive hurry-up, frantic, “let’s get to it quick” style.

So if you expect to take in just one movie of this sort this year, make it this one. This film is definitely for the discerning viewer and their patience will be well rewarded with great performances in the telling of an absorbing story.

CLASSIFICATION
for some sexuality and violence.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Cathleen sets her teacup down on a small piece of paper. With each change in camera angle the teacup hops on or off the paper.

LAST TRAIN HOME

Documentary

REVIEW
The inter-title informs us that Chinese immigrant workers make the long trek back home once a year to see their family. The film zeros in on Sugin Chen and her husband Yang Zhang who work in a sewing factory under appalling conditions. We then follow along as they return to their village during the Chinese New Year to see their 17-year-old daughter Qin and her younger brother. Some of the images during the long trip are just gorgeous.

One thing has to be said though: the film has the look of a “rough cut”, that stage in the post-production phase which is part of the editing process. The rough cut is not meant to be the perfectly assembled end product of the film, the final cut, which is distributed to theatres.

As such it is a good example of the pitfalls when any one person has more than two key production jobs. According to the end credits Lixin Fan is the Director, Cinematographer and one of the Editors. Consequently he has a lot to say about what gets to stay in the final cut or not. And in this case many times there are snippets that should have been edited out.

For example, Qin gets her hair done and comes out sporting long curls. In the very next shot her hair is once more straight. One or the other should go.
Another example: Yang is laying in bed suffering from a fever. Sugin goes off to work leaving him behind and when she gets there, who’s sitting in front of her? Why it’s Yang who somehow made a miraculous recovery from one shot to the next. One or the other should go.

However despite this shortcoming the story is compelling enough on its own to warrant taking the time to see it.

CLASSIFICATION

WELCOME

Drama
In French and Kurdish with English subtitles

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Firat Ayverdi: Bilal, a 17-year-old Iraqi Kurd
Vincent Lindon: Simon Calmat, swimming instructor at the Calais municipal baths
Audrey Dana: his soon-to-be ex-wife Marion
Derya Ayverdi: Bilal’s girlfriend Mina
Mouafaq Rushdie: Mina’s father

REVIEW
Set amidst the gritty dockyards of Calais, the plight of illegal immigrants is clearly portrayed in this well-acted film.

CLASSIFICATION
for language and brief sexual activity.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• The distance from Bagdad to the French coast is about 2,500 miles, not 4,000 as mentioned by Bilal.
• According to Simon the water temperature off the beach at Calais is around 10°C. In fact it never gets that cold, varying instead between 14°C and 18°C.

OLD DOGS

Family comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
John Travolta: Charlie Reed, one of the principals in a sports management firm
Robin Williams: his middle-aged business partner Dan Rayburn
Seth Green: their business associate Ralph White
Kelly Preston: Dan’s ex-wife Vicki
Ella Bleu Travolta: seven-year-old fraternal twin Emily
Conner Rayburn: and Zach
Matt Dillon: camp counsellor Barry
Bernie Mac: entertainer Jimmy Lunchbox

REVIEW
I’ve given it a lot of thought and tried to come up with something nice to say about this film, something that might justify putting out $10 or so and having to give up more than a hour of your time to watching it. I am stymied because this one is completely without any merit at all.

The producers have simply taken a lot of clichés used in comic violence including hits to the crotch (three times and counting), smacks to the body, falling, tripping, breaking things and the like. Add to that a lot of mugging for the camera, rude bodily sounds and silly inane dialogue. In a word, just about anything they hope will provoke a laugh from those who enjoy that sort of humour. I do not so I left before things got any worse.

CLASSIFICATION
for mild rude humor.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• While at the restaurant one of the kids knocks over Charlie’s soft drink. Seen from the kid’s perspective the empty glass remains on the table. But viewed over Dan’s shoulder the glass is sitting upright.
• Charlie tells someone their trip from NYC to Tokyo will take 18 hours. It does not: it is a little over 14 hours.
• Dan and Vicki got divorced before the kids were born so it is impossible that he was at an amusement park with them as seen on his laptop video.

P.S.
Makes you wonder if the Casting Director is a real good friend of the family: according to her bio, Kelly Preston (who plays Vicki) married John Travolta (who plays Charlie) in 1991. Their daughter Ella Bleu plays Emily.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX

Animated drama

PRINCIPAL VOICES
George Clooney: Mr. Fox
Meryl Streep: his wife Felicity, an artist
Jason Schwartzman: their son Ash
Eric Anderson: his cousin Kristofferson
Owen Wilson: Coach Skip
Bill Murray: Mr. Fox’s badger lawyer
Wally Wolodarsky: Mr. Fox’s faithful sidekick, Kylie the opossum
Robin Hurlstone: chicken farmer Walter Boggis (and Jacques Parizeau look- alike)
Hugh Guinness: Nathan Bunce who raises ducks and geese
Michael Gambon: Franklin Bean, manufacturer of alcoholic hard cider
Willem Dafoe: Rat, the security boss

REVIEW
The title says it all: it is a fantastic movie with all the right elements. The smart, funny, grown-up script seems to have been written more with adults and older kids in mind than for children. The voice work is superlative with just the right nuance and phrasing.

The inter-titles (aka title cards) which are a throwback to the era of silent movies are a clever touch, reminiscent as I recall of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? In any event like that film this one is full of witty dialogue that often provokes smiles and sometimes outright laughter. And like Sundance there are exciting action sequences to keep things moving along at a good clip.

The soundtrack is a delight as are the close-up expressions. This is a fun outing.

CLASSIFICATION
for action, smoking and slang humor.

P.S.
The writers have gone to great length making sure there are no naughty words and keeping it family-friendly by employing the more socially acceptable “what the cuss” instead of the usual “what the @*!#”. How refreshing.

P.S.S.
Like other members of the Canidae biological family (that also includes wolves, jackals, coyotes and the domestic dog) the offspring of foxes are called pups.

THE ARMY OF CRIME

War drama
Original title: L’Armée du crime

BACKGROUND
In June 1940 German forces outflanked the Maginot Line and with their Italian allies overcame the French forces offering little resistance. On June 25 an armistice was signed between France and Germany. The terms of the agreement divided France into occupied and unoccupied zones, with a rigid line of demarcation between them. The Germans would directly control three-fifths of the country, an area that included northern and western France and the entire Atlantic coast. The remaining section of the country would be administered by the French government at Vichy under Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain.

Other provisions of the armistice included the surrender to the Germans of all Jews living in France. The French Army was to be disbanded except for a force of 100,000 men to maintain domestic order. The 1.5 million French soldiers captured by the Germans were to remain prisoners of war. The French government also agreed to stop members of its armed forces from leaving the country and instructed its citizens not to fight against the Germans.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Virginie Ledoyen: Mélinée
Simon Abkarian: Missak Manouchian her husband and leader of the group
Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet: the team’s explosives expert Thomas Elek
Ariane Ascaride: Tomas’ mother Madame Elek
Robinson Stévenin: another member of the group Marcel Rayman
Léoplod Szabatura: his younger 14-year-old brother Simon
Lola Naymark: Monique Stern, the sole female in the group
Yann Trégouet: Nazi collaborator Commissaire David
Jean-Pierre Darroussin: another collaborator Inspecteur Pujol

REVIEW
This film about the Parisian-based branch of the French Resistance (the so-called Army of Resistance but not by the Nazis and their collaborators) never really gets going.

Each new recruit gets to tell “their story” seeming compelled for some obscure reason having to justify their becoming a member of the gang. This lack of focus, devoting so much time exploring the motives of the twenty-one in the group serves no useful purpose except to make the story convoluted, confusing and overlong at 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Instead of action, we get flashbacks and a lot of words with surprising little tension despite what they are up to.

CLASSIFICATION
for brief nudity and one particularly gruesome torture scene.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Prior to the repercussions following the July 20 attempt at Hitler’s life, a Nazi army officer saluted with the right hand palm facing forwards and the fingers almost touching the eye. When his subordinate approaches the commandant he mistakenly gives him the naval salute, with palm of the hand facing downward.

P.S.
Yid is a derogatory slang word for a Jew.

P.S.S.
Although generally regarded as war heroes fighting a losing battle, most of the population just wanted to survive the war and disliked the résistants, who provoked dangerous and deadly German retaliation.