Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating (out of 5): ****½

In 1968, director Lindsay Anderson and star Malcolm McDowell teamed up for If..., about an old, rigid English boys school attempting to mold young minds with strict control, obedience and punishment. The film had moments of absurd comedy and of drama, moments of stark realism and of blatant non-realism. Flipping back and forth from black-and-white to color footage doesn't make it any easier to pinpoint. But when it opened in that turbulent year, it tapped directly into the mood of the time and became a phenomenon, a cultural landmark. McDowell played Mick Travis, a free spirit who slowly realizes that he can't quite fit in. In the end, he and his cohorts attempt to take over the school with firearms. McDowell became a star in his first movie role, with his James Dean-type physicality, fearless and entrancing. If his confident stride didn't hypnotize you, his gleaming dagger-sharp eyes will. (Just check out his memorable entrance, swathed in black with a black hat and scarf around his face.)

After a stop to play the lead role in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971), McDowell approached Anderson about working together again. Anderson told him that good scripts don't grow on trees and that he needed to write his own, so McDowell concocted a yarn out of his own life story (even though he was only thirty). The screenwriter David Sherwin wrote the final script, and O Lucky Man! (1973) was born. It's as audacious as anything made in the 1970s, running three hours without much of a plot; it divided audiences to the same degree that If... united them.

Continue reading "O Lucky Man!" »

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Reviewer: Dylan de Thomas
Rating (out of 5): ****

Much like the terrific Traffik before it (later turned into Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-winning Traffic), State of Play is the latest miniseries from the UK that will shortly be made into a feature stateside (starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck). The miniseries casts a jaundiced eye at politics and journalism, two professions at least as disgraced as the drug trade.

The plot is set up with a lean but mesmerizing ferocity: a young black teenager is chased and shot in cold blood while the researcher - and illicit lover, we find out shortly - of a rising-star Member of Parliament (played by David Morrissey) is found under a train. What follows takes the shape of a newspaper's investigation into the two deaths and all the muckraking that entails. The series rewards close viewing as minor characters amble in and shortly become the focus for the run of show.

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Posted by at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reviewer: Dylan de Thomas
Rating (out of 5): ****

Red Road, writer-Director Andrea Arnold's notably assured feature debut (and winner of a jury prize at Cannes), tells a spare and haunting mystery about a Glasgow woman's growing obsession with a shadowy figure from her past. To give more information seems frankly unfair, with the movie doling out bits of information as though a precious commodity and the growing sense of dread building to a singular climax.

We first meet the protagonist, Jackie (in a stunningly honest performance by Kate Dickie), watching a bank of video screens with feeds coming from municipal surveillance cameras that watch over the city. She's looking for people in trouble, crimes in progress, when she finds someone that she clearly recognizes, though we have no idea why. From there, the movie becomes a genuine thriller, though one that goes in directions the genre rarely sees.

Continue reading "Red Road: An assured feature debut" »

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Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****½

First shown in 1997 but never seen on American television nor available on video until now, A Dance To The Music Of Time offers what seem to me the most effortlessly entertaining characters, conversations and story that may ever have appeared in a miniseries. Lavish praise, but these four discs--totaling around 7 hours of time--scale the heights in terms of providing a literate, ironic view of upper-class England over several decades. That this is due to the series of novels by Anthony Powell, from which Hugh Whitemore adapted his simply amazing script, is beyond question. But putting it all together as elegantly, speedily and bracingly as Whitmore manages is a major accomplishment. Over the decades this journeyman writer has given us many fine pieces, winning BAFTA, WGA and Emmy awards in the process. Remember 84 Charing Cross Road, Return of the Soldier, Utz, Pack of Lies, Breaking the Code (he wrote the play), The Gathering Storm, My House in Umbria--to name but a few? This prolific gentleman is pretty much the "adapter" nonpareil for our time.

Continue reading "Dance to the Music of Time sings" »

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Reviewer: James Van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

Whatever you do, don't let Starter for 10 pass you by. Quickly in and out of theaters, this British romantic comedy set in the mid-1980s is a fine example of a small movie that gets almost every aspect right -- story, themes, characters, music, writing, direction and performances -- while rarely pushing too hard or missing a beat.

Directed by Tom Vaughan (whose resume is mostly in television), the film stars James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland; Chronicles of Narnia) alongside relative newcomers Alice Eve (so good in the unfairly neglected Big Nothing), fast-rising Rebecca Hall (daughter of famed UK theatre director Peter Hall), a real standout here, and Dominic Cooper (the hunk of The History Boys). Adapted from his own novel by David Nicholls (whose new film And When Did You Last See Your Father is getting early raves), Starter for Ten effortlessly weaves a coming of age tale in a college-level quiz show setting. University Challenge is the real life quiz that will surely cause more fits of nostalgia in Brits than in Yanks, but themes of honor, politics and - of course - love are certainly universal.

Continue reading "Starter For 10: Rom-Com Brit-Style, Done Right" »

Posted by at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Reviewer: Dylan de Thomas
Rating (out of 5): ****½

With Tony Blair stepping down as the long-time Prime Minister of Great Britain and his replacement, Gordon Brown, spending the weekend with W. at Camp David, I thought it would be a good time to recommend the excellent House of Cards trilogy of miniseries, starring veteran British actor Ian Richardson as the fictional Prime Minister Francis Urquhart.

House of Cards, the first of the three series (the other two are To Play the King and The Final Cut), with its perfect blend of Macbeth and Richard III, of humor and drama, is the best--though once you start watching, stopping is hardly an option. The most obvious influence on the character is the aforementioned Richard, with his gleeful, cool, perfectly-reasoned badness and regular catchy audience-addressing. One halfway expects Urquhart to start speaking of his winter of discontent at any moment.

Continue reading "House of Cards" »

Posted by at 3:54 PM | Permalink

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

The most obvious reason to rent the first season of Chancer series (Discs 1-4, Episodes 1-13, each approximately 50 minutes) is to watch the wonderful Clive Owen when he was only 25 (he'll be 44 in October). Filming began in 1989 and the series was shown in the U.K. over the 1990-91 seasons. When I first watched this superb sample of British TV (around 1992, as I recall), it was considered far too racy for prime time and had to be shown at midnight on one of our lesser PBS Stations in the New York City area. It also moved faster and contained more characters, themes and plot elements than I had encountered at that point in my middle-age life. Bracing as all get out, it left me breathless and eager to get to the next episode. Yes, times and mores have changed, and you can't go home again. But if Chancer now seems to move at about the same pace as your typical TV show, the good news is that it still holds up surprisingly well.

Continue reading "Chancer: Education for life" »

Posted by at 2:53 PM | Permalink

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): **½

It seems as though we just can't get enough of these two lovebirds: everyone's favorite multiple divorcee and the man who wouldn't be king. Or at least the English can't get enough: Wallis & Edward comes to us via British television. While you've seen this all before, either with Mrs. Simpson and her Abdicator as main characters (1978s Edward and Mrs. Simpson), as minor obtrusions (2002s Bertie and Elizabeth), or even as leads in their very own (sort-of) documentary (1965s A King's Story), you've probably never quite seen 'em like this: Wallis rubbing an ice cube over Edward's bare chest. (This does not, oddly enough, bring his nipple to attention: Could this be due to fake ice from the prop room or faux feelings in the actors?)

Continue reading "Wallis and Edward: At it again" »

Posted by at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reviewer: Craig Phillips
Rating (out of 5): **½

Theatrical release: May 11
DVD Release: TBD

Retelling the real story of a landmark British case in which a Punjabi woman kills her husband, burning him alive after ten years of abuse both physical and verbal, Provoked (opening in select theaters today) often feels a bit like an earnest Lifetime movie but the appealing cast and the intrigue of the Indian-British culture clash raise it above that level, at least.

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai is truly luminous, if a little inert at times, as Kiranjit, the victim and accused, even when her character remains, in the film's first half especially, frustratingly passive. But the meek, reserved nature of her dutiful wife is part of the point, as her culture, as in many, emphasizes the subordinate role of women in marriage and how most societies do little to protect them, even if they - and their children - are physically threatened by the husband. Her story becomes one of gradual awakening and empowerment.

Continue reading "Provoked: A British-Bollywood Burning Bed?" »

Posted by at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reviewer: Walt Opie
Rating (out of 5): ***½

The Hours and the Times could almost be called a "speculative documentary" as it takes a real event in the lives of John Lennon and founding Beatles manager Brian Epstein, namely a private four-day holiday to Barcelona in April of 1963, and speculates as to what might have occurred between the two close friends behind closed doors in their hotel room. Of course, the result requires an opening disclaimer stating that everything we are about to see is "entirely fictitious," but perhaps the best indication that it is successful is that somehow it feels as if this is quite likely what did happen, that perhaps by some form of witchcraft writer/director Christopher Munch managed to get it exactly right, even though we know rationally this would be impossible. Wonderfully shot in old-school black and white, it even brings to mind the D.A. Pennebaker documentary of Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, Don't Look Back.

Continue reading "The Hours and Times: The fifth Beatle and Lennon fall gently in Spain" »

Posted by at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

To watch the original School For Scoundrels (1960), particularly after viewing last year's atrocious "remake" with Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder, is to rediscover the glories of good old British comedy at very near the top of its form. The story in both films is basically the same: put-upon milquetoast turns the tables by becoming nastier than his nemeses. Yet there is simply no point to comparing the two films in terms of writing and directing because the original is so incredibly superior in every tiny facet. (Interestingly, the performances in the remake are good, even though the actors group had almost nothing to work with.) The British penchant for understatement and irony, especially in matters sexual, is put to delicious use here. Situations that generally turn silly, shrill or nasty in modern renditions remain funny, sexy and sweet in this plum of a film that also manages, by the finale, to seem surprisingly ahead of its time.

Continue reading "School for Scoundrels: The original, superior British version." »

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Reviewer: Erin Donovan
Rating (out of 5): **

The middling and awkwardly titled British drama Shaking Dreamland starts as a high-pitched fairy tale. A wedding in a striking cathedral with beautiful flower girls and a bride and groom so gorgeous they can't even make it to the altar; they must run to embrace each other halfway down the aisle. Minutes later the new bride takes her husband to the crest of a waterfall to inform him they're about to have a beautiful baby. But soon after this announcement the groom is haunted by ghoulish nightmares about having sex with underage prostitutes and molesting his future son. As the missus gestates (all the while humming the theme song from Disney's Snow White) he partakes in a steady diet of long walks, self-mutilation and psychotherapy before coming to the realization he was molested by his father who is now dying of cancer and wants to spend his last few months with his new grandchild. His descent forces the wife to recognize that her parents were raging alcoholics who beat her and each other on a regular basis.

British cinematographer Martina Nagel makes her directorial debut with this zestless psychodrama that despite plumbing into almost every imaginable neurosis about sex, relationships, family and commitment, does so with such austerity that there is no one emotional uptick. Couple this with the near-constant, obtrusive musical cues and Shaking Dream Land becomes an exercise in balancing patronizing boredom with dull voyeurism. The performances are all solid and the cast includes a few faces that will be familiar to an American audience; Jesper Christensen (Casino Royale) is particularly good as the charming, porn-addicted child abuser and newcomer Cloudia Swann manages to retain sympathy and strength despite having little more to do than sigh woefully and shift the angles of her french braid.

See also: I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, The Conformist, Gideon's Daughter, Mystic River, Separate Lies, The Woodsman, Mysterious Skin.

Posted by at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***

While Wondrous Oblivion often approaches the first word of its title and never comes near the depths of the second, it does not, unfortunately, live up to its initial promise. There is a great deal to savor here, however, beginning with the time and the place: a lower-middle-class London neighborhood in 1960. In its center are two families: one Jewish, that has lost most of its progenitors to the Holocaust; the other Jamaican, ready to put down stakes in a changing England. The sport of cricket figures prominently in the film, yet this is no standard "sports" movie, for it deals as much with coming-of-age, racism and passionate, forbidden attraction as it does winning and competition. Writer/director Paul Morrison (whose 1999 film Solomon and Gaenor helped push Ioan Gruffudd toward stardom) and his production staff have recreated the time and place impeccably, and Morrison has cast his film equally well.

Delroy Lindo has perhaps his best role ever as the Jamaican patriarch, and he is splendid--as is every cast member down the line. The film is also to be congratulated for taking the road less traveled where sex, sin and infidelity are concerned. But after setting up a rich situation, peopling it with unusually decent but problemed primary characters, and giving it all such a gorgeous gloss, the filmmaker allows a certain predictability to slowly drain the movie of some--though not nearly all--of its energy and strength. Toward the close, there is almost a sense that Morrison is simply diddling, as the pretty visuals and effects go on and on when a less sentimental close would have been appropriate. Perhaps he was finding it difficult to say goodbye to these people whom he cared so much about. Whatever--I recommend you see Wondrous Oblivion because its strengths easily outweigh its flaws as it tells its nostalgic yet still-timely story about some of our favorite topics: race, religion and class.

Posted by at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

If Sidney Gilliatt's Green for Danger at first reminds you of a (very) early hospital "soap," do hang on. This "veddy" British mystery is done with the kind of understatement and sophistication those of us old enough to remember such out-of-date terms still appreciate. The time is WWII and the location a small-town hospital at which the staff is perhaps a tad too well-acquainted. The mystery element, though handled nicely, will hardly ruffle a feather in these days of Hostel and Wolf Creek. After a bit you'll easily figure out who's what. It's with the entrance of the inspector (who’s been narrating since the start) that the movie picks up and becomes the classic you're expecting. Played by Alastair Sim (Stage Fright, A Christmas Carol's Scrooge), this guy--even after all the detectives we've seen in the 60 years since--is an original.

Continue reading "Green for Danger: Veddy British Mystery" »

Posted by at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

The beauty of Wah-Wah - actor Richard E. Grant's first go at writing/directing is based on the story of his boyhood in Swaziland, Africa - is that the movie manages to honor everything it touches: family love, first love, estrangement, coming of age, death, theatre, puppetry, "Camelot," the British Royal Family, and most surprisingly of all, Africa itself. Grant (Withnail and I; How to Get Ahead in Advertising) accomplishes his task by simply being truthful, letting events speak for themselves instead of underscoring or politicizing them. He's assembled a crack cast, every one of whom nails the character that s/he is playing and has fun with it, to boot. This is not a deep film, skimming surfaces like a stone skipping the water, but that is also its strength. There is plenty of skill here - in the acting, directing, writing, editing, photography, sets and costume design - so that a fast pace, succinct build-up of events and characterization, and a lightness of touch carry us effortlessly over well-tread territory. The difference in Wah-Wah is the setting: the African of Grant's boyhood remains beautiful amidst a coming political transition that appears more peaceful and measured than many during the past century.

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Posted by at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reviewer: Craig Phillips
Rating (out of 5): **½

The British-made fake documentary Death of a President, opening in a limited theatrical release tomorrow, has a premise just built for controversy - an investigation of the assassination of President Bush - but in fact it's a well-crafted, thoughtful, even eerie piece of work, the main drawback of which is a certain lack of punch. While writer-director Gabriel Range's work here harkens back to Peter Watkins' films of the 1960s (Punishment Park, The War Game), Watkins was more of a provacateur.

The fake interviews here are much more believable than many in similar films - such as CSA: Confederate States of America (although recognizing the mom from Freaks and Geeks as the president's special advisor and James Urbaniak - well cast - as a forensics expert was momentarily jarring for me) and it seamlessly weaves in new, recreated footage with existing footage of the President - including a (perhaps too lengthy) segment of Bush's speech to the Economic Club of Chicago prior to his "assassination" - along with other real life "characters" to give the film an immediacy. Chicago makes an unsettling location for the crime, too, with the Chicago police in full riot gear and mayor Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J., reminding of the chaos that ensued at the Democratic convention in 1968.

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Posted by at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Life and Death of Col Blimp is not my favorite of Michael Powell’s films, but to me, this is like saying one Van Gogh is not quite as good as another – each film, each work, is a masterpiece in its own way, from a director who never made a weak film. And in Colonel Blimp, there is much to delight, much to revel in. What also occurred to me while watching the Criterion DVD is how a filmmaker who in many ways worked in a world, a time, a place so foreign to Americans in my generation, can still captivate so completely. With this particular film it takes a bit more time to become involved, but as with all of Powell's films is well worth the effort. What it has, too, is an absolutely magisterial performance at its center – that of Roger Livesey, who literally gave the performance of a lifetime as the film follows his Clive Candy over the course of 40 years, from his days as a young soldier to his last days as part of the old guard – as he ages, Livesey is never less than convincing throughout. Unlike a lot of more recent performances in which actors age through makeup and overacting, Livesey is extraordinary, making you forget he’s not actually aging. He would act in non-Powell films but it's his work in Matter of Life and Death, I Know Where I'm Going and particularly Blimp that he will forever (I hope) be remembered. (The DVD features a slight but insightful documentary about the film in which Stephen Fry does a rather keen and affectionate impression of Livesey)

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Reviewer: Craig Phillips
Rating (out of 5): ***

My Family and Other Animals is a delightful made-for-British telly movie based on Gerald Durrell's memoirs that can only be faulted for being too short. Starring the always resplendent Imelda Staunton as the matriarch of an eccentric brood, the youngest of which (Gerald, played by Eugene Simon) has a passion bordering on obsession for critters - setting up his future as a famed biologist. Set mostly in Corfu during WWII, where the family holes up in various ramshackle mansions, the film is charming and full of unexpected pleasures, as well as a fine cast both human and animal.

Posted by at 7:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)