fimetic Reviews

My House in Umbria (2003 TV Movie)

Perfection

[10/10 · 14 November 2009]

"Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time" Voltaire. Maggie Smith is closer than most. She has, in abundance, that quality of stillness of doing 'nothing' and yet almost deafening one with the point. The greats all have this quality, Antony Hopkins does it better than most. Paul Newman has it. None can better Maggie Smith in this respect. She is and makes herself, vulnerable, and in this she captures her audience immediately. We're with her right from frame one. We suffer each set-back, every slight, every insult with her. She is an innocent child who's known just about every vile horrific thing that one human being can do to another and yet, still she trusts herself to give and to see and to feel. Bravo Maggie you got it all in, said it all, again! The film/programme is technically and literally, beautiful. I can and do watch it with the sound off on occasion – by now I know the script word perfect anyway. I sometimes do this with Ridley Scott's 'Duellists', the only other film which comes close to 'House in Umbria' in this visual respect for me. The ensemble playing is marvellous, a team of great actors at the very top of their game. Chris Cooper proves (not that there was ever any doubt) that he's one of the greats. I often wonder if he is appreciated as much in the U.S.A. as he is in the Europe. Please folk, if you've not experienced this work do so SOON! 9.99/10 (damning by faint praise?)

As Good as It Gets (1997)

A film I will always keep close.

[10/10 · 12 August 2007]

This film delighted on first viewing and has continued to do so every time I watch it (which is frequently!!). It has so much that is perfectly done, so where to start. There are three strands running throughout and three 'leads' in each story. The main line and that which is most interesting is Nicholson's character – a writer with so many 'nervous ticks' phobias and prejudices both great and minor that they would make a pretty good film just on their own. Nicholson play's them for all he's worth which is considerable. Typical Nicholson but at his very best! The film is really about the blossoming of this Nicholson character goaded and teased in to becoming a 'human being' mostly by Helen Hunt (in her best performance ever for me) and to a lesser extent by Greg Kinnear (also acting at the top of his game). All three stories run concurrently and overlap throughout but each is fascinating and compelling in it's own right. Many things amaze about the film; just as each story can stand and make sense on it's own so each scene stands in own right and is a perfect and complete whole worth watching and thinking about. I'd like to end by paying tribute to the script that is enormously funny and so good that one nowhere finds an inappropriate or uncharacteristic word or phrase. All fits like a glove and of the hundreds of marvellous one liners here's two "…come in and try not to ruin everything by being yourself" and "The best thing you've got going for you is your willingness to humiliate yourself" Try and see this movie if you haven't already done so. You'll love it. 10/10

The English Patient (1996)

I can't fault this film.

[10/10 · 17 February 2007]

The first time I watched this film I thought it very good. Then, as with films that have made an impact, it rattled round my brain for a month or two. Various scenes, snatches of dialogue, single shots etc., kept coming back and my feeling that this really was something very special slowly took hold. Yesterday I watched it twice. I can't fault it. Technically it is perfect. The story is perfectly told and the Mingella always stays consistent in his telling of it. The acting is marvellous; one becomes accustomed to over-the-top histrionics passing for acting. So many of the big box office "stars" have survived on this kind of nonsense for so long that a lot of film goers no longer have any yardstick to measure by when the real thing presents itself. A special word for the cameraman, thank you you're an artisan in the very best sense of the word. I place this film on a par with "The Duellists" for camera-work, on a par with "The Remains of the Day" for acting and as good as anything I've ever seen for it's direction. I love this film, it's the best thing committed to celluloid in the past fifteen years. I shall watch it on a regular basis if for no other reason than to remind myself how good the medium can be in the hands of professionals.

The Duellists (1977)

My Favourite film!?!

[10/10 · 25 October 2006]

Whenever I hear or read of "my favourite film" I cringe! How can anyone from the thousands of films available choose one that's of such merit that it stands above all of the truly great films which are available. Of course it's impossible to select just one .....but if someone held a gun to my head and told me to choose just one this would be it. This becomes more remarkable when I tell that the Director is in my opinion no more than competent. Any director worth his salt could have succeeded with 'Alien1' or 'Blade Runner' but 'The Duellists' is not in that larger than life sci-fi mold. The Duellists is about a life long animosity between two officers serving in Napoleon's great war machine. These two pursue their mutual loathing at every opportunity and do their best to render the greatest possible harm to the other but always within the officer's code of honour!! At this point I have to praise a film without describing its detail, yeah right. Let me tell you that in no other film will you see camera-work which is better. In no other film will you hear such wonderfully appropriate music chosen for the sound track. But above all never will you see a cast of actors so on top of their game or a script which is so fascinating that it holds one in its grip from frame one. My sense of wonderment grew with each passing scene. I cannot fault this film. If you haven't seen it please do yourself some good. Watch and grow and learn. It is that good!

The Wicker Man (2006)

A new worst all time film!

[1/10 · 2 September 2006]

For years and years I had no trouble answering the question "What's the worst film you've ever seen?". The answer gave me no trouble what-so-ever, why it's the "Wicker man". It's completely unconvincing and is in addition handicapped with the most incompetent and wooden actor of all time Edward Woodward. But time moves on folks a new champion steps up to the line - the remake of "The Wicker Man" not possible? Oh it's possible. Even worse than the original and with an even worse leading actor! What more wooden than Edward Woodward? Yes folks take a bow Nicolas Cage! Why is it that we continue with these lame remakes of films best fogotten? One can surmise that an honest attempt to improve the original was what motivated the makers. In this case it surely must have been possible to make an improved version but in my opinion this is a miserable failure, and actually worse than a very poor original.

Solaris (2002)

.....did I just dream this? Hell I know I liked it whatever!

[8/10 · 21 December 2005]

Steven Soderbergh, it seems to me, can direct just about anything (book, play or just an interesting idea) and make the best of what it has to offer. Solaris has a lot to say and maybe a little too much for some us. It is never just entertainment, it has much more to offer. Sometime ago I read an article about dream states. The main idea of this article was that we are all of us living in a dream; and all living matter is in a dream state peculiar to it's own species and indeed peculiar to each individual within that species. Something of this idea is being worked out in Solaris. Death does not end the existence of an individual but simply transfers him or her to a different dream state. One of the questions which this raises (if you accept the validity of the 'dream' state idea) is which of these dream states may, with authority, consider itself to be the ascendant state; is any of these states entitled to consider itself the one which is the sole arbiter of truth regarding the nature of existence. Solaris, somewhere out there - where doesn't matter, is a planet which has the power to allow individuals in different states of 'being' to see and contact one another with all the attendant confusion that this obviously brings to all parties on both sides of the existence/dream barrier. This moves on to pose many more questions and dilemmas e.g. does time continue upon changing states? If it does is it synchronous with all other dream states? Etc. This film isn't really just a sci-fi flick or for that matter, a romance it's in a category that's other than that. Decide for yourself what and where it is. Soderberg floats my boat. Always has. If you're a fan too this one's for you.

Intacto (2001)

...luck is a real primitive force, don't kid yourself.

[9/10 · 18 December 2004]

There is a strange atavistic, primitive even primeval core to this film. I spent part of my childhood in south west Ireland; I can clearly remember that people (men with a winning streak at the races or at cards or anything where luck is involved) would be touched by others to steal some of their luck. Those individuals with the lucky streak would do their best to avoid such contacts, often with threats of violence! This was all over sixty years ago. These primitive superstitions ought not to be easily discounted. Not so long ago man was much closer to the shadows of the forest than we sophisticates. The evil eye was a real force, the green man really existed. Our ancestors knew this. I loved this film I know something of what the film is trying to recapture before it's lost forever. It's not an easy film to sit through first time but stick with it. There's gold here. Technically it's making is first class. The acting is flawless and the directing to die for; it succeeds brilliantly on every front. This film will remain in my collection of great film memories. I recommend it to all and pay homage to those who made it.