Match Point
Woody Allen’s first complete movie as a writer and director
came in 1968, and it was the classic ‘Take the Money
and Run’. Since then he has created, on an average,
two films a year for over 38 years. His list of film credits
is formidable, and includes such works as ‘Play it again
Sam’, ‘Annie Hall’, ‘Manhattan’,
‘Broadway Danny Rose’ and ‘Bullets over
Broadway’. The titles keep going on and on and on, for
he is one of the most prolific and successful film-makers,
as an Actor, Writer and Director, that the History of Cinema
has ever seen. Woody has been having a dry-spell recently.
His last truly amusing film was ‘The Curse of the Jade
Scorpion’ in 2001. Since then the films have been a
bit weak, but, die-hard fans, which have stayed loyal through
this bleak period, will be thrilled to know that he is finally
back in-form. ‘Match Point’ is Woody’s latest
masterwork. It is not a comedy, nor is it a drama. It falls
somewhere in-between, as an ironic look at the British Establishment.
An enterprising Irish opportunist tries to ingratiate himself
into a wealthy Upper-Class British family, and, once there,
finds himself infatuated with the fiancée of the family’s
son and heir. She is an Appalling American Actress and is
pretty much onto his case. Lots of fun and games develop.
‘Match Point’ has been nominated in this year’s
Academy Awards in the ‘Original Screenplay’ category.
It will probably miss-out to a more commercially successful
film such as ‘Crash’, which is a shame, for Woody’s
movie contains some of the best writing he has ever done.
There is a depth and sensitivity to this work that Woody has
never before displayed. ‘Match Point’ is a mature-age
masterpiece and shows that, contrary to popular pessimistic
predictions, Woody’s career is far from over!
Capote
Bennett Miller’s disturbing movie, ‘Capote’,
deals with the time in the life of the celebrated American
Author Truman Capote when he was struggling to write his masterpiece,
‘In Cold Blood’. In 1959, after the success of
his early first novel, ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’,
Capote was regarded as a somewhat frivolous writer. He desperately
wanted to be thought of as ‘serious’, and when
he came across the brutal true-story of a vicious mass-murder
in Kansas, he used these events as the basis of a controversial
and highly-successful novel, and, along-the-way, invented
the Literary Genre of the Non-Fiction Novel, or, Faction.
As Capote researched the story, and became involved with the
imprisoned murderers, he found himself becoming romantically
ensnared by one of the killers. Capote was not above using
this development for his own purposes. Bennett Miller’s
movie resonates on many levels. It is an intelligent depiction
of the creative-writing process, a guileless story of unrequited
gay love, and a harsh examination of the American Penitentiary
System and Capital Punishment. Philip Seymour Hoffman is outstanding
as Capote. He creates an unforgettable character out of this
complex man, who is usually thought of as a bitchy and embittered
‘Old Queen’ on Late Night American Television
Talk Shows. Hoffman’s Capote may blatantly mince, but
he also shows the depth of the man and the devastating impact
that his experiences, while creating ‘In Cold Blood’,
was to have on his fragile personality. It would help if you
have read Capote’s ground-breaking novel, or seen the
1967 screen-adaptation, but, even so, there is enough meat
in this movie to keep you well and truly enthralled.
I Am David
Based on Anne Holm’s acclaimed novel, ‘North to
Freedom’, writer and director Paul Feig’s ‘little’
movie, ‘I Am David’, is a cinematic gem. After
escaping from a Bulgarian Forced Labor Camp in the early days
of 1952, a young boy called David, played by Ben Tibber, must
make his way across Europe to Denmark, where he hopes to find
freedom and safety. The film recounts his adventures along
the way. It is a spiritual journey of discovery in which David
slowly loses his instinctive mistrust and has his faith in
love and humanity restored. This is the type of movie that
is often overshadowed by more glamorous and bigger-budgeted
productions, but, in its simplicity, it has a compelling story
to narrate, and it is superbly directed by Paul Feig, while
performed by a marvelous cast, including Joan Plowright and
James Caviezel. Okay, there is some sentimentality in the
movie, but, it is a form of sentimentality that is completely
acceptable, and the film would be the weaker with its absence.
I am not ashamed to admit that I had a lump in my throat at
the tear-jerking ending. An ending you can see coming from
a mile-off, but which you are entirely happy to go with. This
‘small’ movie will still be watched and enjoyed
long after other ‘over-hyped’ movies are forgotten.
Brokeback Mountain
I don’t know any gay people who actually enjoyed Ang
Lee’s gay Western, ‘Brokeback Mountain’.
Most refer to it as ‘gay stereotypes on horseback’,
and I think they have a point. It is a typical ‘straight
world’ view of what they think homosexuality is all
about, and, typically, they miss the point entirely. The film
displays no understanding of gay sensibilities or the dynamics
of gay relationships. It seems as if the director, Ang Lee,
and the writers, chose to ignore Annie Proulx’s sensitive
novel and instead came up with a Douglas Sirk-like 1960’s
melodrama. Then, instead of casting Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman,
they went with two hunky heroes. Heath Ledger is hopeless.
It is apparent from the start that he is ‘acting’
with a capital ‘A’. Also, he mumbles his way through
the entire movie and it is impossible to understand a word
he says. Meanwhile, Jake Gyllenhall’s idea of playing
an aging man, from his early 20’s to mid 40’s,
is to grow a false mustache and stoop occasionally. The only
decent thing in the movie is the scenery, which is beautifully
captured by cinema-photographer Rodrigo Prieto. That’s
it. If you really want to watch a movie about gay cowboys
then check-out Andy Warhol’s 1967 ‘Lonesome Cowboys’,
it is much, much, closer to the truth!
