Venus
After watching Peter O’Toole’s abysmal performance
in ‘One Night with the King’ I had given him up
as a hopeless has-been actor, a victim of one too many bottles
of whiskey. However, given the right script and the right
direction Peter O’Toole demonstrates that there is still
life left in his body in Roger Michell’s heart-warming
British movie ‘Venus’. Peter O’Toole gives
a fantastic performance as a successful but aging actor who
develops a lust for the grand-niece of one of his theatrical
cronies. Entranced by this brazen and uncouth country girl,
at loose in the big city, he goes out of his way to win her
affections. Roger Michell’s direction is unpretentious.
He seems more than happy to set the scene and let his actors
get on with their work, and what magnificent performances
they produce! Peter O’Toole literally lives his role,
and he gives it the most superb nuances and character shadings
which breathe life and soul into his portrayal. As the shameless
strumpet, newcomer Jodie Whittaker makes a screen debut equally
as impressive as Julie Walters some 24 years ago in ‘Educating
Rita’, to which ‘Venus’ has some similarities.
As the naïve but inquisitive girl being ‘educated’
by a much older and wiser man, Jodie Whittaker fills the screen
with a vulnerable warmth and charm. All the same, the surprise
of this movie is Leslie Phillips as Peter O’Toole’s
theatrical crony. Leslie Phillips has been a stalwart of British
Cinema since 1935. Never as the leading man, but always as
the supporting character actor. His career has never been
properly recognized, and in this movie he shows what a lifetime
of experiences working in the film industry can bring to a
role. As a doddering old fool he almost steals the movie,
but he is too much of a gentleman to rob Peter O’Toole
of his limelight, but he comes close to doing it! Peter O’Toole
and Leslie Phillips create a wonderful rapport throughout
the movie, and as they reminisce about their careers you can
almost smell the greasepaint and hear the applause. Okay,
the plot of this movie is a bit thin, but that is not the
point. The movie is all about character development and growth.
As Peter O’Toole and Leslie Phillips throw themselves
into their roles, the movie becomes a sheer delight to watch.
Peter O’Toole received an Academy Award nomination for
this movie. We can only hope that it revitalizes his career.
Pan’s Labyrinth
This Spanish-language movie, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’,
was written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro, a master of
the macabre. It was nominated in the Academy Awards in the
category of Best Foreign Film, but, unfortunately, it missed
out, the competition in the category being a bit steep this
year. Never the less, the film is a triumph of a blending
of film reality and fantasy. Set in 1944, a young girl called
Ofelia, and her mother, travel to Northern Spain to join her
mother’s new husband, a captain in the Fascist Franco
army, who is stationed at a remote outpost, and is involved
with rounding-up resistance fighters hiding-out in the mountains.
Repulsed by the violence of her step-father’s work Ofelia
retreats into a bizarre fantasy world of her own creation,
which is populated by Fauns, Fairies and Mythical Kings, Queens
and Princesses. However, Ofelia and her step-father are both
undertaking their own personal quests, and, as events unfold,
their individual versions of reality come into devastating
conflict. As a piece of ‘magical realism’ cinema,
Guillermo Del Toro has created a captivating movie. The two
stories he is telling intertwine beautifully, and each story
has its separate mood and atmosphere which complement each
other. Obviously, Ofelia’s fantasy world is the most
visually interesting story. This is not some Disney-like apparition,
but, rather, a bewildering realm that abounds with deep-rooted
psychological symbols. Ofelia is afloat in a fantasy land
of images that find their inspiration in the drawings of Picasso
and Dali, and the notebooks of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.
From the opening sequences you are going to be fascinated
by this movie. Even though I found my print of this movie
in the children’s section of my local DVD store, this
film is not for children. It is a psychological horror story
that is strictly for Adults Only.
Blood & Chocolate
Speaking of psychological horror stories, it is nice to note
that a good old fashioned werewolf movie is currently on offer.
There hasn’t been a decent werewolf movie for years,
and I kinda regard them as one of the more fun genres of film
‘schlock’. Set in present day Romania, Katja Von
Garnier’s movie ‘Blood & Chocolate’
is actually a rather chic and stylish affair. The beautiful
young werewolf Vivian has been chosen as the next mate of
the Leader of the Pack, but, she has romantic inclinations
towards a visiting American artist, who knows nothing about
her background. Though, he is interested in the local werewolf
mythology. Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with the
Leader, or the Pack, and the hunt is on! This movie has it
all. People who metamorphosis spectacularly into werewolves.
Lots of silver bullets and a deadly crucifix, plus, plenty
of action put together in a sleek package. Still, the movie
does get a bit stupid towards the end. Agnes Bruckner makes
a rather scrumptious ‘Vivian the Werewolf’, and,
of course, she morphs into an absolutely adorable pure white
symbolic wolf. The symbolic significance of ‘Blood’
is more than apparent in the movie, but, apart from the fact
that Vivian works in a chocolate shop, I am not clear on where
‘Chocolate’ fits into the scheme of things. Anyway,
if you have nothing better to do, and you want to be scared
for a couple of hours, then this is just the movie for you!
Bobby
This current fad of interconnecting storylines is getting
totally out of control. Actor, and now screenwriter and director
Emilio Estevez’s rambling movie ‘Bobby’
must take the cake as the most ridiculous one to hit the screens
so far. ‘Bobby’ follows the weaving and meandering
storylines of 22 fictional individuals who all happened to
be at the Ambassador Hotel the night Bobby Kennedy was shot.
The movie comes in at 1 hour and 50 minutes. That gives approximately
5 minutes each of screen time for the actors and actresses
to convey their characters. It is no wonder that they all
chose to present an easy to recognize and stereotypical personality.
The stories of these people are pretty stereotypical as well.
It is no wonder that by the end of the movie you wish Bobby
Kennedy’s assassin had put a bullet into all of these
characters instead of the Presidential Candidate. It would
have made a far better movie.
