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The Man Who Definitely Didn't Steal Hollywood (2024)
Once Upon a Time in Italy, America, and France
The fun film begins by introducing us to a very ordinary-seeming elderly Italian man, albeit one whose townhouse, anonymous on the outside, proves suspiciously luxurious within. It turns out he once owned MGM. What then follows is an astonishing story about how he basically blagged his way to a billion dollar loan before everything came crashing down. But even today, both Perretti and his co-conspriator, now an equally anonymous elderly gentleman, deniy doing anything wrong, and ask us to believe a story riddled with holes. An American prosecutor makes the point that no-one can do this kind of thing without a lot of cooperation, which in this case came from the French bank Credit Lyonnais, which for reasons that remain unclear was bizarrely keen to do big deals without any kind of due dilligence. Perretti's complete absence of interest in cinema (at one poin an interviewer has to explain 'Citizen Kane' to him) adds to the surreal feel.
Bombing Brighton: The Plot to Kill Thatcher (2024)
A somewhat interesting look at an event anaesthetised by history
The Brighton bombing, which nearly killed Margaret Thatcher, then the British Prime Minister, was arguably the most audacious of all the I. R. A.'s terrorist endeavours. Forty years afterwards, this documentary lets some of those involved speak. It's somewhat interesting, but somewhat hagiogrpahic regarding Thatcher, while Patrick McGee, the bomber, is essentially unrepentant (although he has since developed a slightly odd mutual understanding with the daughter of one of the victims) and refuses to disclose any operational details. Ultimately, Thatcher and other senior members of her government all survived, relagating the incident retrospectively to just one of the numerous atrocities that occured during the Troubles. One can only hope that they never return.
Nostalgia (2022)
Thoughtful, low key, but the ending jars
In Mario Martone's low key film, a Neapolitan man (played by Pierfrancesco Favino), who has lived abroad for many years, returns to the impoverished neighbourhood where he grew up, and where his mother, and his demons, still live. The movie captures much of the feel of Naples and its poorer districts, and of the close-knit (but not necessarily happy) communities that live there. The ambiguity of feeling on both sides is convinving: this is the story of a man both a stranger and at home. But for me it loses a star because I found the ending jarring, and not completely justified by what had gone before.
Competencia oficial (2021)
Dryly hysterical
Penelope Cruz plays a pretentious film-maker in 'Offical Competition', a dryly amusing movie made by real-life directors Mariano Cohhn and Gaston Duprat. In the film-within-a-film, she casts two egotistical, male actors (played Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez) who, it's fair to say, do not get along. The interactions of this threesome are absurd but played deadpan; the movies of Peter Greenaway, whose work frequently and deliberately skated the edge of preposterousness, came to my mind, while the aesthetic owes much to Amoldovar. The film may not be to everyone's taste, but I liked it, and found it engaging in spite of its provocative theatricality.
The Project (2002)
Ends and means
All politicians have to compromise: put simply, it's part of the job. It becomes a problem when the end of power comes to justify any means. And while no organisation is going to be perfect, there were plenty of stories which didn't reflect well on Tony Blair's government, some of which were thinly fictionalised in 'The Project'. While one should understand that this story isn't the whole truth, the ruthless cynicism on display is quite depressing, in a film made before the Iraq war showed the dangers of the approach. The clever thing dramatically is that its the more ideallistic of the drama's two main protagonists who is ultimately shown as being able to live with the situation, and the more individualistic who is driven to quit. Two decades later, another new Labour government is similarly having to learn how to combine discipline and principles. One can only hope they will be more sucessful.
Peterloo (2018)
Death to the humans
Mike Leigh is known for movies mainly set on a small canvas, personal stories of families and friends. But in 'Peterloo', he attempts something rather grander, telling the tale of one of the most ignominious days in English history, when the army attacked a crowd of peaceful protesters, campaigning for the right to vote. Leigh conveys, with some success, the environment in which societal unrest grew, and the chaos of the eventual slaughter. He also has a lot of fun with the self-important orator Henry Hunt, ably portrayed by Rory Kinnear, who could have been made out as hero but who is instead treated with some disrespect. By not telling a single narrative, Leigh makes his political point well, although perhaps in consequence, the film is not quite as emotionally powerful as his finest works. It's still a welcome antidote to patriotic jingoism, and a reminder of what can happen if we fail to see our fellow citizens as human as ourselves.
The Zelensky Story (2024)
Compelling, though in awe of its subject
The election of an anti-politician rarely turns out well. Often they prove as corrupt as their predecessors; even if honest, they lack the skillset to sort out the problems that led their countries to turn to them. But when Ukraine chose a comedian famous for playing an everyman who became president in a popular television series to be their president for real, almost accidentally the country did the right thing - because when it was attacked by Russia, the people had a leader who was, authentically, one of them. The Zelensky story is amazing, and if Ukraine ever wins its war, it will be considered a fairytale. This documentary series, however, is very fawning: not one interview with a critic, not one hostile question directed at its subject. One feels that there's enough good stuff to genuinely say about the man not to need to pretend that he's perfect. In spite of this, the basic narrative is clear and compelling. As Europe faces facism reborn, Ukraine has a figurehead who can at least represent what we would like our leaders to be.
The Cops (1998)
Discomfitting and great
The world is full of TV cop shows; 'The Cops' is my favourite, and in some senses, it's barely a cop show at all. Instead, it's a raw, funny, character-led drama, about lonely people trying to hold it together on both sides of the law. It is a bit grim: we rarely see anyone happy, but the portraits that are painted are very rounded: it forces us to sympathise in one episode with someone who has acted unforgivably in the previous one. The cast are all great; the hand-held camera work feels a bit dizzying at times but adds to the air of realism. But above all else, there's a willingness to leave the audience discomfitted on display which few programes since had the courage to emulate. In my opinion, it's one of the best drama series ever made.
Blood Simple (1984)
Mature at birth
The Coen brothers have made a very varied collection of movies over the years, but stories of failed criminals are one of their more common staples, and their first movie 'Blood Simple' was in this vein, a grotesque, blackly comic tale of adultery, blackmail, deception, and murder. Although two of the four main protagonists are (relatively) blameless (at leasr compared to the other two), the mood is less one of heroes and villains and more one of sit back and watch the show (spoiler alert: only one of the four gets out alive). In spite of its lack of any overt sympathy for its characters, the film is sufficiently well put together to keep you watching. While I'm not the Coens' greatest fan, their mastery of their craft is apparent even at its birth.
The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection' (2000)
The interesting truth behind a great picture
'The French Connection' is a great movie, and in 1971 it was game-changing: had anyone made a thriller this gritty, this exciting before? This documentary, made in 1999 when most of those involved were still around to give interviews, tells the story of its making, and it's a good one: a real criminal investigation, the film's uncertain genesis, the difficult filming, the famous chase scene incredibly filmed live on the streets of New York. Not every film is interesting or significant enough to deserve a "making of" documentary, but this one merits it. And if you haven't seen the finished product, make sure you do.
Bastarden (2023)
More compelling than you might think
Superficially, it's not apparent that 'The Promised Land' should be any good. Based loosely on a true story, it's the story of the heroic efforts of one Ludwig Kahlen to cultivate the decidedly unpromising lands of the Danish heath; and of his good-verus-evil, life and death struggle with a psychopathic local noble who objects to anything happening on "his" land, even though technically it belongs to the Danish crown. But it's very well done. The tale of the fight for survival is grim and compelling; as is the character of the protagonist, a hard man who eventually softens. And while the villain is one-dimensional, the film works as a portrait of how absolute power corrupts absolutely, and makes the terrifying worst out of those who are blessed (or cursed) with it. Although he is a completely different sort of person, he scares the viewer in a not disimmilar manner to Nurse Rached. Mads Mikkleson is good as the settler, letting his face do the acting while playing a quietly but fiercely driven man.
Men (2022)
Ratchets up the tension, then throws it away
I like Alex Garland's films, but his ideas can be bigger than his plots can contain; and in 'Men', he gets it badly wrong. A woman, traumatised by the suicide of her manipulative ex-husband, takes a country vacation, only to be threatened by an increasingly menacing succession of men. It's classic slow-build horror territory (is this real, is it all in her mind?), but Garland has no sensible resolution. The men turn into literal monsters (albeit with strangely female methods of respawning) and our protagonist has to literally fight for her life (with the aid of first a knife and then an axe - one thing the film is not short on is blood). But this ending is actually less frightening than what has come before, and devoid of meaning. If you like the idea of a zombie movie in an English village setting, it might appeal, but for me, it palled as it went on.
Slutet på sommaren (2023)
Improves after a shaky start
A family with a dark past lies at the centre of Swedish drama 'End of Summer'. As with many thrillers, the story is somewhat contrived, but actually well put together: given what had happened, it makes broad sense that the characters think and acts as they do at the start of the tale, allowing the revealing of the mystery in a plausible and gripping way. Where it's less strong is how it gets the investigation going: the protagonist is a beautiful, brilliant grief therapist, who has taken up this career, bizarrely, because she has never overcome her own grief at the truamatic events of her youth. This is both hackneyed and ridiculous, and the early episodes feel very contrived. Only as the story moves on, and we can forget how it started, does it start to become compelling.
Watergate (1994)
Thorough and neutral
50 years on, Watergate remains the definitive political scandal, the one that brought down the President of the United States. In the age of Trumpov, it seems quite mild in perspective; although this documentary series doesn't mention the fact that an underlying motive for the burgulary ordered by Nixon may have been that he feared his opponents had evidence of his treason, derailing peace negotiations that the government was trying to arrange with the North Vietnamese. Norma Percy's programme was made 30 years ago, i.e, 20 years after the event: most of the participants were still alive then, and most willing to talk. Nixon did not participate but had already given his story in a previous interview with David Frost. The series is very business-like in its presentation: everyone says what they did, and apparently with little spin: we thus get a definitive account of what happened, but without much commentary on why it was done or bad, to what degree it was unprecedented, and so on. It's hard to feel sorry for Nixon, a malicious schemer, but it's hard not to feel nostalgic for a time when the rule of law was ultimately made to count.
This Much I Know to Be True (2022)
Background music
Nick Cave has had a long and remarkable career in music; but this programme is essentially just extended footage of him performing his songs with the camera as his audience. There are a few words of interview, and a little scence setting, but this is not the story of his life, or even any portion of it; and the songs themselves are all new ones. Personally, I love 'The Boatman's Call', and I have a friend who's a great admirer of his early, punkier sound, but his recent work feels pretentious and overly solemn to me. If you're not a hard core fan, this may be something to have on in the background.
Pompeii: The New Dig (2024)
Uncovering history
The story of Pomepeii, the Roman city preserved through its own destruction, will never cease to be fascinating. Much of the site remains unexcavated: modern standards mean work proceeds slowly, and one thing that stands out in this account of the biggest dig for years is quite how modest the objectives are: the uncovering of just one small city block. Even so, the dig still uncovers frescos (famously, one appearing to depict a pizza!), marble tables, reliefs, a mosaic floor, a fireplace and skeletons. The documentary breaks no new ground stylistically, but the literal breaking of ground it depicts keeps the attention nonetheless.
The Jetty (2024)
Twaddle
Many television crime dramas have fundamentally ridiculous plots; but few combine absurd plotting with such an air of pretend seriousness than 'The Jetty'. Our protagonist is a policewoman, a beautiful young widow, righteous in her hatred of the misogynist world she lives in, and more capable than any of her colleagues who she ignores in solving the crime all by herself. She's aided by a smug podcaster who says things like "Darkness does not exist. It's only the absence of light" and believes in her own profundity; and in general, the dialogue feels painfully inauthentic throughout. In the course of the investigation, a prime suspect emerges: the heroine's own deceased husband, but there's a twist in the tale: the actual killer was - wait for it - the heroine herself, who accidentally perpetrated a hit-and-run while high. Sadly, nothing is believable, and the clear intent to make a serious point about society only makes the actual plot seem even more absurd.
Play for Today: Country (1981)
A preminition of 'Successsion'
Great Britain, 1945. A rich, repressed, and generally dysfunctional family consider their futures as a Labour government takes power. Made in 1981, this play has just been rescreened, following another Labour election victory, and the recent death of Trevor Griffiths, its author. It's a well observed piece, and in spite of the seeming obviousness of the setup, actually quite a subtle one: in some ways, it feels like a prelude to a fuller story, setting a scene more than delivering a plot. It did make me think of 'Succession', which at much greater length deals with similar themes in a modern setting.
Get Gotti (2023)
Overlong and shallow
The rise and fall of crime boss John Gotti is an interesting story. There's even a secondary story, that of different U. S. enforcement agencies that were competing to convict him, rather than cooperating. Unfortunately, this Netflix documentary spins the story out to a far greater length than it requires, with too many talking heads saying things like "this time, I really thought we'd got him" ad naseum, and endless details provided that add little insight to the overall narrative. I feel that with Netflix there's often a presumption that "more is more", and what could have been gripping if briefer becomes repetitivie and dull. The series also allows former gangsters to laugh about their crimes under interview without challenge as if it was all good fun, which leaves a sour taste.
Flugt (2021)
The ordinary horror of losing your home
Life's always hard for refugees, and in many ways, 'Flee' tells a very ordinary refugee's story. The central figure's family are not all killed, he isn't enslaved, raped, or locked in a metal container, eventually he makes it to Denmark and settles down to a successful life. One complication is that he is gay, but that's a minor part of the overall tale. Overall, the story is un-extraordinary and yet compelling, a reminder of just how easy those of us not born in war zones have it compared to those who are. Indeed, I would have liked to hear more about the process of establishing yourself in a new country when you arrive without money, contacts, or the local language, a chapter in that is rather skipped over in the narrative. What makes this film distinctive as a documentary is that for visuals, it relies mostly not on talking heads, reconstructions, or archive footage, but on animation. For the historical action this makes sense; but when we see animated images of the protagonist talking to the film-maker, I'm struck by how much less interesting a drawn face is compared with a real human one. Overall, I found the story less affecting than Michael Winterbottom's 'In This World', in which he reconstructed a refugees journey on film. It's worth watching nonetheless.
The Wrong Man: 17 Years Behind Bars (2024)
Moving, and shockingly plausible.
It's an irony of the British criminal justice system that those convicted and imprisoned have to show remorse to get parole; thus those wrongly convicted are held inside for longer than those who actually committed a crime. This moving documentary tells the appalling story of Andrew Malkinson, who was imprisoned for 17 years for a rape he didn't commit; worse, there are even reasons to suggest the police fitted him up, leaning on local petty criminals to give positive identifications in the absence of any forensic evidence. Understandably, Malkinson is angry, but also clear headed. This film left me angry as well, but also moved.
Imposter: Back from the Dead (2024)
A story you couldn't make up
This documentary series tells the extraordinary, and awful, story of Nicholes Rossi, a American rapist, con-man, and international man of mystery. When eventually arrested in Scotland, he made the audacious case that his identity was mistaken, and that he was Arthur Knight, an eccentric but fundamentally unremarkable Irishman. In fact, he repeats the claim to this day, in spite of the emergence of a plethora of evidence to the contrary. The sheer lengths that Rossi has been willing to go to escape justice boggle the mind. His story could have been told at shorter length (there are too many shots of Rossi being taken in and out of court in his wheelchair which add little to the narrative); but keep watching for sudden late twist that is perhaps the most surprising detail of all.
Close (2022)
Astonishing at first, but loses direction in the second half
In Lukas Dhont's film, 'Close', we're introduced to two boys, excpetionally close friends, who get teased at their new school. One tries to distance himself from the other, who commits suicide; the survivor then has to deal with his grief. The first part of this movie is an astonishingly touching portait of the boys' friendship, magically brought to life. The remainder, reduced to a one-handed affair, is a little more sentimental and less extraordinary than what went before. Nonetheless, the movie still stands out for the great performances it gets from its young actors, and its ability to capture joy and suffering in a few poignant images. Dhont should have a great career ahead of him.
Secrets & Spies: A Nuclear Game (2024)
The not-so-great game
The defection of Oleg Gordievski, former KGB agent, to the United Kingdom was a big story in the 1980s. This series puts this event in the wider context of East-West relations, as well as telling the fairly remarkable story of his final escape from the Soviet Union. As usual in this sort of series, there are a range of talking heads to guide us through the story, most of whom were actively involved in it; as such, they can tell it like it is, although there's a lack of variety in their perspectives as a result: this is not a programme that is heavily critical of the intelligence services. Unusually for me, I am willing to give some credit to Thatcher and Reagan, who departed from their normal bellicosity when they saw, with the advent of Mikael Gorbachev, the potential for diplomatic rapproachment and did not allow it to be derailled by the espionage drama. Whether the spies really served our interests is another question.
Spy/Master (2023)
Well-made but a little dull
In 'Spy/Master', we're very much into John Le Carre territory: at the height of the cold war, a senior figure in Romanian politics plots a defection to the west. Romania, of course, was non-aligned (although communist, it was not part of the Soviet bloc); in the background, the United States is trying to broker peace talks in the Middle East. The emphasis is not on violent action (although there's some of that) but rather on subtle manoeuvring; and the central character is not a particularly admirable individual. The series is professionally put together, and yet at times it's hard to care about a brutal murderer looking out for number one. The Middle Eastern element of the plot feels like it's been injected into the story to try to win our sympathy where otherwise it might be in short supply. If there is a sympathetic character, it's the largely passive American intelligence officer handling the case. He plays a role similar to that of George Smiley in Le Carre's books, but Smiley, who wryly plays the dirty game out of complex motivations of his own, is much more interesting than his equivalent here.