Noel Curry (@DJBogtrotter) picks his films of the week … apologies for the late posting, we’re changing servers and the post got lost in transition …
Three Kings, Mon 10th Sept, 00:15, ITV2
An acerbic look at America’s role in the first Iraq war. At the tail end of the conflict an major (George Clooney) hears rumours of Saddam’s hidden gold and goes AWOL, along with Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube, in search of it. On the way, they discover about the devastation the war has visited on the blameless civilian population. In one unforgettable scene, Mark Wahlberg even comes to empathise with the man who is torturing him using techniques he learned from the CIA. Director David O Russell, who had shown a deft comic touch in earlier films Spanking The Monkey and Flirting With Disaster, deals with a considerably darker tone here. He shows that, regardless of the sure moral conviction that a war is entered into, things are never that straightforward and it always degenerates into a chaotic quagmire from which anybody is lucky to escape undamaged. Clooney is particularly sharp as the war-weary officer who is all too aware of the hypocrisy involved in conflict. And all this despite the fact that he had a very strained relationship with his director. Allegedly at one point Russell had his hands around Clooney’s neck after Clooney objected to his mistreatment of the crew. Russell has gone on to confirm his reputation as an enfant terrible. If you’re curious, just go on You Tube and search his name to witness a couple of spectacular meltdowns on the set of his disastrous self-indulgent follow up to Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees. Three Kings though, despite an unconvincing lurch towards a Hollywood ending, maintains its satirical chops to deliver one of the few pointed critiques of Bush Snr’s middle eastern folly.
The Wrestler, Thurs 13th Sept, 23;10, Film4
Enjoy the excitement of WWF but find that it’s just not existential enough? Well, The Wrestler is here to fill that particular gap in the market. Director Aaronofsky pulls off something of a coup by making wrestling, that cheesiest of sports, seem almost noble. Mickey Rourke plays a down-on-his-luck wrestler due to retire who is more comfortable grappling with grown men who want to hurt him than he is with the problems in his life outside the ring, such as a strained relationship with an estranged daughter and his inability to connect romantically with a stripper that he sleeps with. Rourke’s performance is given an extra punch as his own career echoes that of his character – someone who had a shot at the big time, blew it, but now has a chance of getting back in the game. He certainly inhabits his role and, as a former boxer, has a convincing physique of someone who has been beaten up by life. This full-blooded approach lends dramatic weight to a plot that easily could descended into cliché – a wrestler with failing health is warned that his next life could kill him, but the ring is the only place where he feels alive. Some feel that Aaronofsky, after a relatively cerebral start to his career with the indie hit Pi, about maths, paranoia and religion, he has veered towards a type of drama that has a tends to have a big fat melo- before it. His follow up to this, Black Swan, which Aaronofsky considers a companion piece as both deal with people who are tortured by what they do, has been labelled as hysterically overdone. But I believe that if you’re going to make this kind of drama work then you have to commit to it fully, both as a filmmaker and as an audience. And no-one can accuse Aaronofsky of undercooking this particular brew.
The Shawshank Redemption, Fri 14th Sept, 21:00, ITV2
Really? Am I actually recommending the film everyone has seen probably multiple times already? The one that when you catch it halfway through, you end up staying to the end anyway. Indeed, I have a friend (hi Barry!) who calls the act of getting sucked in by a film just before bedtime and thus getting to work the following day with insufficient sleep, “being Shawshanked”. I’ve been Shawshanked myself by this expertly told tale of prison, injustice and male friendship. So why recommend it again? Well, what bothers me about it is its reputation as one of the greatest films ever made. There are some films that tackle the harsh realities of life with an unflinching gaze and they derive their power from this unwillingness to compromise. The Godfather, Raging Bull, This Is England and There Will Be Blood ably demonstrate how extraordinary such films can be. Then there are films that, although they feature death and hardship, eventually give us want we want to hear and Hollywood has become extremely adept at fulfilling our desire. Casablanca, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Star Wars and many, many more show how successful and enjoyable this approach can be. The Shawshank Redemption seems to have been mistaken filed in the former camp when it surely most decidedly belongs in the latter. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman both give career defining performances as prisoners who develop an unlikely friendship whilst becoming increasingly embroiled in the corrupt governor’s schemes. The excellence with which the tale unfolds (it’s based on a Stephen King short story) and the strength of the supporting cast mean that it stands up well to repeated viewing. But number one on IMDB’s top films of all time list? Get a grip people.