Spotlight – Film Review

It is 2001 and a new editor at The Boston Globe asks its special investigations team, Spotlight, to look into claims that a Catholic priest had abused children and been protected by the Archbishop. What starts as a column hidden in the middle of the paper develops into months of painstaking investigating as the four members of Spotlight uncover a conspiracy larger than anyone feared and one which the entire city, including themselves, had turned a blind eye to.

Despite the fact that the film is over two hours of mostly talking about a particularly grim subject Spotlight manages to be a gripping and non exploitative watch. The two hours are filled with gruelling persistence as the journalists scour through records, crossmatch printed databases, and follow up leads. Surprisingly, and to my huge relief, no time is spent lingering on the either the young victims or their persecutors apart from. At no point did I have to look away from the screen to shield my eyes from the exploitative recreation of an all too real person’s suffering and no flashbacks were in sight. Spotlight‘s writer/director Tom McCarthy instead decides that the film should celebrate the hard work of the investigation and in doing so condemn the horrors that it uncovered.

Spotlight is a no frills affair; the camera is unobtrusive and the film is lit in a bright uncinematic way. The film eschews any bells and whistles confident in the fact that the story itself is engrossing enough and the machinations of the plot inherently interesting enough to sustain your interest. Carrying the story are an excellent ensemble cast giving a variety of performances ranging from the superbly understated Liev Schreiber to Mark Ruffalo who fidgets his way through the film and gives the mostly noticeably actorly performance; hence securing himself some awards. While Ruffalo is far from being bad it is the less showy, and less applauded, roles in the film that reinforce its essential authenticity and authority.

Spotlight is not particularly fun but it not a film you need to avoid either. There is little light relief in a film about large-scale child abuse but I do not hesitate to recommend the film. While the territory is unpleasant the film does its best not to exploit the subject or those involved and instead creates a suspenseful and very watchable procedural drama in which journalists do their jobs well. Spotlight is not out to punish the viewers but spreads its important message in a palatable way but without sugar coating or shying away.

Spotlight is a devastating story meticulously told. This is a film that needs to be seen.

Foxcatcher – LFF Review

Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is an Olympic wrestling gold medalist who, despite his success, is struggling to get out from under the shadow of his fellow wrestler and brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo). While training for the world championships and 1988 Olympics Mark is approached by millionaire wrestling enthusiast John du Pont (Steve Carell in heavy prosthetics) with an offer he can’t refuse. Du Pont offers Mark a home on his estate, Foxcatcher Farm, where he will have excellent training facilities, a salary, and the ability to hire whoever he likes for his team. Mark readily accepts and asks Dave to join him but Dave declines as he has a family to consider and cannot be so easily bought.

Mark is a simple man of few words and is happy to have been chosen by du Pont though suffers without his brother to train with. It is clear that du Pont is lonely as despite his wealth he has no friends and his mother (astonishingly wasted Vanessa Redgrave) is his sole remaining relative. As such du Pont sees Mark as a son and insists on Mark looking up to him as a father-figure. Eventually Dave is convinced to bring his family out to Foxcatcher Farm to work as a coach under du Pont. How he is persuaded is never really clear, nor is why Mark suddenly stops talking to du Pont. Foxcatcher is a slow burning film in which nothing happens before long stretches and when something does happen there seems to be no reason for it. This is most evident in the film’s violent conclusion, a matter of public record but not one I was aware of, which the filmmakers never seek to explain.

Despite being based on real events Foxcatcher does not feel authentic or logical. While there are a series of events that definitely happened writers E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman have not connected the dots effectively. The gaps between what we know to have taken place are not filled with scenes attempting to provide motivation or explanation just more tedium in which du Pont is showcased as being a little bit weird, his mother so distant she doesn’t get a single line of dialogue, and Mark as a piece of meat slowly moving from room to room. The film’s only moment of consequence, that of the final ten minutes, is actually truncated rather than fleshed out as a police capture that in reality took place over two days is taken care of in minutes. Why stretch the plot so thinly elsewhere only to rush the ending?

The BFI have described the film as a nerve-jangling thriller but I would argue that as it focusses on the relationship between an almost mute athlete and an introverted millionaire there is less a sense of foreboding and more a sense of boredom. Steve Carell and Channing Tatum both put in “proper” acting performances offering subtlety not normally present in their comedic roles but they play uncharismatic characters who, when left alone in a room together, struggled to hold attention. Let’s not even talk about Carell’s facial prosthetics and the mask-like look they give him. Mark Ruffalo is gifted the only part with any character and as such I felt nothing but sympathy for Dave being pulled into the awkward atmosphere of Foxcatcher.

Director Bennett Miller has worked hard on creating a specific tone for the film and that tone is one of being slightly uncomfortable. Imagine the sensation of not being able to get comfortable in your seat for two hours before suddenly falling off it without warning or explanation. That is Foxcatcher in a nutshell.

Foxcatcher is a humourless film populated with impenetrable characters, despite some decent acting efforts, and a plot with no rhyme or reason to it. An odd, unpleasant, and often dull film.

Foxcatcher has a UK release date of 9th January 2015 and screens at the London Film Festival on the 17th of October 2014.

The Kids Are All Right – Review

At last I make the time to go and see The Kids Are All Right, a film with all sorts of praise that I somehow knew very little about. Admittedly I saw it a week ago and have somehow managed not to review it, because it’s hard for some reason.

It is well written, directed and acted. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore make a great natural couple and Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska are just as good as their well adjusted but curious children. Mark Ruffalo makes a wonderful idiot, filled with good intention but no real sense of responsibility.

The film is very funny for the most part but not afraid to pack the emotional punch as the drama starts to flow in a nice, understated way.

Somehow The Kids Are All Right felt like a very tactile experience, everything had texture and lacked too much gloss and glamour. Certainly worth a watch though it is a nice surprise to see Oscar buzz around a more low-key film.

The Brothers Bloom – Review

Rian Johnson, writer and director of The Brothers Bloom, has only directed one other film and that film, Brick, just so happens to be one of my all time favourites. He also recently directed an episode of Breaking Bad one of my all time favourite TV shows. My expectations were suitably raised upon going to see Bloom and as such I was slightly disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a good film; funny, stylised and surprising. Bloom just isn’t quite right.

Where the film suffers is with timing. While the film is under two hours long it seems to drag a lot in the middle; a con movie such as this needs to be a bit faster paced but Johnson’s plan to have a con movie with sympathetic characters requirs time for emotional scenes that held the film up. Ultimately this was a worthy sacrifice; what it lacked in pace it made up for in heart as while we never knew the characters true motives as the film went along we did start to care about what would happen to them.

The entire cast, Rachel Wiesz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi and Robbie Coltrane were perfect for their parts and performed well. The direction and general production design were both very stylised, something that is often seen as a criticism. Personally I think it is often a plus point if you notice a particularly nice camera move, there’s nothing wrong with direction standing out as good as opposed to being overly generic. The music is also a treat, and as with Brick is provided by Johnson’s cousin, combining piano and various jazz instruments to create a unique sound, so different to most hollywood films.

With good direction, writing, music and acting it’s hard to know where the film comes up short but it does, if only slightly. Thankfully it remains clear that Rian Johnson has a real flair for writing and directing and any comparisons to Wes Anderson should be taken as a compliment.