(“They
Shall Not Grow Old” is Patrick Compton’s film event of the year.)
My definition of frustration is reading
about a number of allegedly good/great films that we Durbanites don’t get to
see (unless you’re a Pirate Bay downloader). One such, Roma, scripted and directed by the sublime Alfonso Cuaron (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Children of Men), has
been receiving rave reviews around the globe. It opened yesterday (December 14)
in Cape Town and Joburg – but not in Durban. It may still get here, so keep
your eyes peeled.
My selections this year come, as always,
with the caveat that in addition to the many I’ve unavoidably missed, there
have been more than a few films that have passed me by in the hurly-burly of a
year’s movie-watching.
20. Five Fingers For Marseilles. The
first of only two South African films on my list, but there you are. Scripted
by Sean Drummond and directed by Michael Matthews, this is a Sergio Leone-type
Western cleverly transposed to the badlands of Lady Grey in the northern
Eastern Cape. Gun fights, bar-room brawls and standoffs in an indigenous
setting, vividly captured by cinematographer Shaun Harley Lee.
19. On Chesil Beach/The Children Act. I’m
cheating a bit, but I couldn’t separate these two solid adaptations of Ian
McEwan novels, both scripted by the author. The first is about a young couple’s
struggle with sex on their wedding night in 1962. Vivid performances from
Saoirse Ronan and Edward Mayhew as the couple, and good direction from Dominic
Cooke. The second, directed by Sir Richard Eyre, is about a distinguished high
court judge, memorably played by Emma Thompson, who is wrenched out of the
bubble of her measured, intellectual existence when messy real life comes
calling.
18. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Excellent performances from Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson
stand out in a foul-mouthed movie that sparkles but doesn’t always convince.
Martin McDonagh’s film undoubtedly scores highly as entertainment, but is less
convincing as a realistic portrait of a small-town community and its various
inhabitants.
17. The
Post. Steven Spielberg’s impeccably liberal movie about the decision of the
Washington Post’s owner, Katharine Graham, to publish the Pentagon Papers feels
particularly timeous in these “post-truth” dark days. The movie features solid
performances from Meryl Streep as Graham and Tom Hanks as editor Bill Bradlee.
16. I, Tonya. Craig Gillespie’s uneven,
luridly entertaining film about the life and career of ice-skater Tonya Harding
who was involved in the assault of her great rival, Nancy Kerrigan, before the
Olympic Winter Games in 1994. Scene-chewing central performance by Margot
Robbie as Harding and also from Allison Janney as her mother from hell.
(Toni Collette in “Hereditary”)
15. HEREDITARY. An effective horror
movie that generally avoids using the clichés that make up the typical “fright
night” formula. Unlike most horror movies, which deal in external, usually
supernatural threats, this film looks for its darkness from within the confines
of an American family. Features a stunning central performance from Toni
Collette.
14. The Reports On Sarah And Saleem. This
powerful Palestinian movie about an affair between an Israeli woman and a
Palestinian man was my personal highlight at this year’s otherwise very
ordinary Durban International Film Festival. It’s the feature film debut of
Muayad Alayan and is scripted by his brother Rami. In this movie about uneven
power relations, the Alayan brothers eschew didacticism and create a
convincingly nuanced portrait of life in one of the most highly contested and
complex countries in the world.
13. Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool. Annette
Bening is sensational in this unusual romantic drama, based on fact, involving
veteran film star Gloria Grahame, one of the Hollywood goddesses of film noir
in the late 40s and early 50s, and an unknown Liverpool actor half her age,
well played by Jamie Bell. Set during the last three years of Grahame’s life
(1979-81), this Paul McGuigan movie is about her end-game as she treads the
boards in England, her previous career in the movies all but forgotten.
12. Sicario: Day Of The Soldado. A
grimly effective sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s 2015 drama, this thriller is a
brutal assessment of contemporary power politics as it plays out along the
US-Mexico border. Penned by the master of the contemporary Western (Hell or High Water, Wind River), Taylor
Sheridan, this cynical sequel is directed by Stefano Sollima. Starring Josh
Brolin as the tough CIA operative and Benicio del Toro as his accomplice.
(Glenn
Close & Jonathan
Pryce in “The Wife”)
11. The Wife. Glenn Close gives a
superb, Oscar-worthy performance as the emotionally complex wife of a Nobel
Prize winner travelling to Stockholm to receive his award. Also starring
Jonathan Pryce as her husband Joseph.
10. A
Star Is Born. Lady Gaga confirms her very considerable singing skills but
also shows some serious acting chops in Bradley Cooper’s very watchable fourth
edition of the Hollywood classic. Gaga’s thrillingly spiky performance is
remarkable, particularly given that it’s her first movie role. Cooper’s
grizzly, sympathetic presence as her alcoholic lover and mentor, gradually
going down like some handsome torpedoed battleship, is also a worthy effort –
as is his perceptive direction, surprisingly good singing voice and
guitar-playing skills.
9. The Hate U Give. George Tillman’s
powerful adaptation of a best-selling Young Adult novel about the troubled
black experience in the US that features a memorable performance by Amandla
Stenberg as a young black woman beset by racial difficulties. Tillman’s
direction gives this tale a fierce, story-telling grip and he is indebted to a
fine script from (the late) Audrey Wells as well a series of superb
performances from his large cast.
8. A Quiet Place. Silence has never
been more terrifying in this riveting post-apocalyptic thriller. In this time
of noisy Hollywood blockbusters, it’s a pleasure to celebrate silence in John
Krasinki’s suspenseful and unusual thriller (with a dash of horror). The action
takes place in the future after an unnamed apocalypse in the United States.
Only small bands of humans survive in a blasted landscape also occupied by
vicious predators (not dissimilar to those that populated Ridley Scott’s Alien
series). The creatures are blind, but they have super-sensitive hearing that
means, in effect, that if you sneeze you lose ... your life. Starring the
excellent Emily Blunt and Krasinski as the parents of a beleaguered family
living in dread.
(Gary
Oldman in “The Darkest Hour”)
7. Darkest Hour. Gary Oldman gives the
performance of his life as the growling old bulldog, Winston Churchill, who
overcomes great odds, not only to defy Hitler but also members of his own
pusillanimous war cabinet as the Nazi hordes threaten to invade England in
1940.
6. Journey’s End. Saul Dibbs’s intense and deeply moving
adaptation of RC Sherriff’s famous play is a heartfelt tribute to the men who
fought in the trenches in northern France during The Great War. Sherriff
himself based the play on his experiences as a soldier during the war where he
fought at Vimy Ridge and was badly wounded at Passchendaele. Features a
commanding central performance by Sam Claflin as the mentally shredded Captain
Stanhope and Paul Bettany as his calm fellow officer “Uncle”.
5. The Fun’s Not Over. Durban director
Michael Cross’s latest documentary is not only a beautifully judged tribute to
a talented musician, it’s also a welcome socio-cultural evocation of an era
(the 1980s and 90s) from a particular perspective that it has become
politically fashionable to ignore, if not deride. James Phillips (aka Bernoldus
Niemand), evokes a time in South Africa’s history when white youth were
struggling, in their own way, to respond to the chains of apartheid. Phillips
duly thrust himself over the parapet with provocative elan and, through his
music, helped to begin the liberation process for Afrikaner youth in particular.
4. Lady Bird. Greta Gerwig has
delivered an almost perfect love letter to her younger self. This delightful
movie, her directorial debut, is a funny, moving and wise coming-of-age drama
set in her home town of Sacramento. The concept of a coming-of-age teenage high
school comedy-drama is hardly new, and many of the characteristic boxes of that
genre are ticked in this film. But the remarkable quality of the script – every
line rings true – the sensitive direction and glowing performances by Saoirse
Ronan as the rebellious “Lady Bird” of the movie’s title and Laurie Metcalf as
her passionate, controlling mother take the film into completely new territory.
3. The Shape Of Water. This is a work
of art brimming with cultural references, including monster movies, old
musicals and fairytales. It is also a deeply human fantasy about love and the
sense of wonder that accompanies its discovery. Guillermo del Toro’s movie
stars the wonderful Sally Hawkins whose magnetic presence holds this
extraordinary film together.
2. Phantom Thread. Daniel Day-Lewis
signs off his career with a flourish in Paul Thomas Anderson’s exquisitely
perverse romance. Day-Lewis plays Reynolds Woodcock, a high-fashion designer in
London in the mid-1950s. Woodcock is a long way from being a sympathetic
figure. He is, in many ways, a perfect example of the artist-as-monster. In
addition to the director and his star, there are also fine performances from a
largely unknown Luxembourg actress, Vicky Krieps, who plays Woodcock’s lover,
Alma, as well as Lesley Manville who plays his sister, Cyril.
1. They Shall Not Grow Old. Maybe it’s
the occasion, the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1, but this, for
me, is the film event of the year. New Zealand director Peter Jackson, best
known for his Lord of the Rings trilogy,
has made an enduring cinematic contribution here. Working with the visual and
sound archives of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) and the BBC, Jackson has used
state-of-the-art technology to bring to wondrous and often disturbing life old
footage of life in the trenches. – Patrick Compton
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