Made in Britain

I watched Made in Britain last week. I put the DVD in one evening when I was bored and wanted to pass a hour or two before bed. I didn’t realise that it would be quite like it was, and I certainly wasn’t prepared for the intensity I experienced. Tim Roth’s performance was the best I have ever seen in a film – do you know he got the role quite by accident when he walked into the auditions looking for a bike pump? – and even when he wasn’t speaking (shouting), he was absolutely gripping.

I was intrigued because the film started out with a young offender’s – Roth – appearance in court. He was sent to an ‘assessment centre’, and I assumed that we were going to see a tired and predictable tale of redemption and rehabilitation. Oh, how wrong I was. ‘Trevor’ was relentless in his deviance and defiance the entire way through the film, and used every opportunity to subvert the system. He was rude, violent, contemptible, and terrifying; but I developed an affection for him immediately. This wasn’t because he was so clearly troubled, but because I couldn’t help but admire his absolute defiance of everything that we ‘normal’ people subscribe to. He didn’t care, but he vehemently cared about not caring, and I was very drawn to that quality to him. His confidence in himself and his views (however vile we perceive them) was astounding, and he was absolutely unapologetic about who he was.

His life was clearly doomed to prison, and a career of crime, but he completely embraced it because he had found where he believed he belonged in the world in ways some of us never will. I wouldn’t want to be him – no one would, frankly – but in his own very strange and upsetting way, he had it all totally sorted.

Spider-man 2; Stranger than Fiction; The Illusionist

Two posts in one day? ‘God save us and bless us’, as me mammy would say!

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I’ve seen a lot of films recently, I think. I can’t actually remember what half of them were.

I do remember Spider-Man 2 though. Yes, I enjoyed it – it was good. Shut-up! You know who you are!

Then there was Stranger Than Fiction, which was very enjoyable although I have to confess that I wasn’t in the mood for it at all. Will Ferrell is very, very funny and plays an excellent straight man, and I think this is the first film I’ve seen with Maggie Gyllenhaal where I haven’t wanted to punch the screen. The premise is simple (I think): a tax man (or whatever his correct title would be), Ferrell, wakes up one morning to find that his life is being ‘narrated’ as if he were part of a novel. As it turns out, he is part of a novel and his life becomes something of a race to make sure that he’s not killed; in both the novel and one assumes, reality. The viewer develops an unexpected affection for the tax man, and it all gets rather emotional and intense towards the end (French and I were a little teary, I’m not ashamed to admit). I suppose this film’s all about personal change and growth, how we adapt ourselves unwittingly and often unselfishly for other people, and how happiness and fulfilment can come in very unpredictable forms. Recommendation: great Sunday afternoon viewing provided you’re not feeling too teary already.

Oh, and there was also The Illusionist starring the wonderful Ed Norton, who never fails to please. Nothing is what it seems, the tagline said, and right it was until half way through when Scottish figured out what was happening and then all was very much as it seemed. The illusionist son of a carpenter, Norton, falls in love with an aristocratic duchess, Biel, and she with him, before they’re forbidden to ever see each other again. They meet by chance later on in life, and rekindle their affair. Yes, love will conquer all or summinck, and a little bit of magic goes a very long way indeed. It’s certainly not Norton’s best work, and there were a few disappointing inconsistencies at the end, but I enjoyed my viewing for the most part. I’d quite like to see Rufus Sewell in a role where he’s not the horrible bad guy (even if he does play one very well) but sure it’s no matter. Recommendation: wait for the DVD. Better still, do a sneaky download.

I’ve still not seen Hot Fuzz. Disgraceful, I know.

A Scanner Darkly; Spider-Man; Superman Returns

I watched two films last weekend: one I’ve been dying to see for ages, and the second I swore I’d never see.

The first was A Scanner Darkly, which is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s book of the same name. What made this film stand out, for me, is the way it was put together. It was filmed as normal and then ‘animated over‘. I don’t understand what that means, of course, but the effect was quite remarkable. (The effect for me was that it was more visually engaging than a regular film and less abstract to watch than a lot of animation.) A Scanner Darkly also sports a rather famous cast, and it’s worth watching for Robert Downey Jr alone. Keanu Reeves was predictably wooden (thank the Gods they ‘animated over’ to disguise how awful he is if nothing else), Winona Ryder was a bland as I always find her, but Downey Jr made up for both of them by being a rather adorable lunatic. In any case, if conspiratorial, paranoid and often close-to-the-bone hedonism is your thing, then you should watch this film as soon as you can. You won’t regret it. If nothing else, you’ll be chuckling about Barris (Downey Jr) for days. Also, if you get a chance, read up about Philip K. Dick’s life. He was a fascinating, if very unhinged, guy.

The second was Spider-Man. I’ve never seen this film, mainly because I don’t really like this sort of thing (and I don’t spend enough time seeing the sort of thing I do like) but I was convinced to try it at the weekend. (I should add that I’ve generally managed to avoid that nondescript drink-of-water Tobey Maguire, and that other nondescript squeaker Kirsten Dunst, until now and I’ve been pretty happy about that, but I seem to have broken that run now.) But I watched it, and I didn’t sneer, and I have to admit here and now for all the world to see that I really liked it. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t want to turn it off either. Maguire and Dunst turned in acceptable performances, but aside from that, it was just a darned good action film with swinging around the place, and baddies, and silliness, and plenty of tension. I was pleased to see William Dafoe in the leading cast, even if his character was completely naff, and Aunt May was just wonderful. I can’t quite believe it myself (and don’t tell anyone, ok?) but I’m looking forward to seeing Spider-Man 2 now. Shhh!

Oh, and I must tell you how much Scottish and I laughed when we watched Superman Returns recently! Superman seems to have become a big camp mannequin in his time away, and Lois has turned into an even punier (and more annoying) version of herself. It was truly hilarious! Kevin Spacey, though, is nothing short of God-like. Seriously! You heard it here first…