Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One

“They are coming”

 

I‘ll start this by saying that I love the Harry Potter books.  Really love them.  Queued up at midnight for book 7 love them.  So I am always aware that the films are not quite going to live up to the novels and try to judge them accordingly.

 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One, or Harry Potter and The Darkest Film Until Part Two Comes Out, does pretty well at transferring the action from page to screen.  However, it does not quite succeed in carrying the emotional content over with it.

The book drips with a slow build of tension.  The first part of the book (away from Hogwarts) takes so long that you, along with the characters, almost forget what the point of it all is.  As tends to be the case, the film makes this episode look like it passes in about three weeks.  This in turn makes each turn of events seem much easier to come by and loses the sense of urgency that creeps in when something big happens.  It is funny that one of my friends said that the film dragged a lot and yet I felt that it needed to drag more in order to really achieved the slowly wilting optimism that JK so wonderfully conveys in the novel.

This sense of urgency is vital to the drive the emotional journey of the characters.  The moment in the book when the Death Eaters attack the wedding is a truly spine-chilling moment exactly because you have seen all of the build up to the day and really settled into life with the Weasleys and this opportunity for a happy event despite the terror encroaching further upon them with every moment that passes.  In the film there is barely any time to see the wedding before it is being ripped apart.  Also missing is the sense that Dumbledore is no longer a trustworthy source of information for Harry.  He spends much of the book severely doubting his beloved mentor and this is never even mentioned in the film.  And then there is the moment when Ron disapperates from the camp in the forest (the most horrifying part of the book - but that's probably just me...).  This means that he can never come back once Harry and Hermione m ove on as the collection of spells that they cast to avoid detection will also create a barrier that will keep Ron at bay, but there is no real feeling that this is the case in the film.  Ok, so Hermione is clearly upset that he has gone, but there is no real indication that this is potentially the end of his part in the journey.  I know that most people who watch the films will have read the books and know the outcome of this situation but they could have tried a bit harder at conveying the finality of Ron’s decision.  Even on my second reading of the novel my heart sunk at the moment he went so I think they should have been able to make more of this in the film.

 

Criticisms aside I think that the film does do its best with the source material.  The action scenes are creative and blisteringly edited and the animation used for the story of the Deathly Hallows is absolutely beautiful.  The trip into the Ministry of Magic is particularly well handled with a terrific performance from Peter Mullan and good comic moments mixed with emotional scenes and high tempo action.  The cinematography and production design are gorgeous in the portrayal of the two different magical worlds – Malfoy Manor is wonderfully bleak and darkly gothic and the various places that Harry, Ron and Hermione set up camp are at once vast and claustrophobic.

 

Emma Watson is much improved as Hermione.  Her tendency to over-emote has been (somewhat) reduced and she delivers a touching performance.  The addition of the scene in which she erases her parents’ memories lends real weight to her repetition of the spell in the café in central London.  (That being said, she is still a rubbish shouter).  Dan Radcliffe is as solid as ever but Rupert Grint, as is usually the case, comes out on top once again in this film.  He has always been the strongest of the main three youngsters and is certainly the most capable when it comes to emotional range (and having a good old shouting match).

 

My final remark has to be on something I am finding truly difficult to justify: the addition of that awkwardly odd dance routine.  I can see what they were trying to achieve - a lightening of the tension and an opportunity to see the real bond between Harry and Hermione - but, to be horribly honest, it’s not like they’d really succeeded in building a huge amount of tension in the first place and I couldn’t help feeling that, after deciding to split the film in two so as not to lose any major plot elements, this was an entirely unnecessary use of time when they had dropped other, more frightening/interesting, key moments from the book.

 

All in all a pretty good addition to the filmic world of HP and a fun watch but lacking in urgency – 7/10

Less Adverts - More Trailers

Since when did the trailer spot at the cinema become just another time to advertise your product?

During my recent 3 cinema weekend I noticed a (new?) trend for slipping adverts into this, in my eyes, ‘sacred’ time.  First we got an advert for advertising at the cinema which was pretty badly received indicating just what a poorly judged advert it is.  We were then treated to an all-in-one trailer for Autumn Cinema, a collection of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it clips from a number of different productions due for imminent release.  While I can see what this advert is trying to achieve I’m just not thrilled to see it take the place of a full length individual trailer.  Finally we have the Orange advert, ‘cunningly’ disguised as a trailer for Gulliver’s Travels.  These Orange ads used to be a lovely little separate entity but now they are just another threat to my beloved trailers.  
My main complaint is that the adverts have just finished.  I sat through them all.  I did my bit.  Why, when we finally get to the good stuff do you hit me with more adverts?  I’m especially annoyed by adverts in cinema advertising the cinema.  I’m here!  You’re preaching to the converted!

Please bring back my trailers.

Somewhere

“Who is Johnny Marco?”

 

Well, it would appear that Johnny Marco is a man of few words and many women, an actor (a good one?  Maybe we’ll never know) living in a hotel and not really doing much.  Marco is a man with too much spare time and not much to fill it, a drifting personality in a crazy world of lull and rush.

 

Sofia Coppola’s new film once again examines human foibles through the generation gap – this time a father and daughter – but she does so this time round in a film where, honestly, nothing happens.  I remember some people complaining about this about Lost in Translation, Coppola’s beautiful, sparse, Tokyo-set film, and I would advise those people not to see Somewhere.  Even less happens.  But even less happens in a truly beautiful way.  The casting is spot on and the performances are a joy to watch.

I think that Coppola has come very close to recreating the artist’s canvas on film.  Occasionally static camera work and extended scenes (Johnny playing the piano is an image that has remained in my mind) come together to make a placid film and considering the world in which the film is set, the pacing of the film is the complete opposite of what you might expect. 

Coppola has once again given us two wonderful people to observe.  Elle Fanning is terrific and I could have watched Stephen Dorff do nothing for much, much longer.  His face is so expressive and his character so flawed and sweet and, quite often, lost.  He lives in a world that is almost unrecognisable to us 9-5ers but even this doesn’t seem to be the point of the film.  There is no real emphasis - things happen, things don’t happen, people just exist.  There is no sudden huge plot development, there is no real dramatic intent; the film just contemplates a short period of a man’s life.

But it does so in such a beautiful way.  The more I think about the film the more I want to see it again.  It was relaxing and friendly (which seems a very strange thing to say about a film) and non-confrontational.  It made me feel comfortable (except for the scene where Marco’s head is encased to make a mould for his prosthetics.  That made me feel horribly claustrophobic) and drew me into Johnny’s life wonderfully.

 

Cool and calm.  Not one for viewers looking for a thrill – 7/10

A Somewhat Gentle Man

“Rolf, hug.”

 

Following his release from prison, Ulrik is trying to pick up the pieces of his life but is being held back by the people from his crime-ridden past.  In this excellent Norwegian black-comedy he tries to come to terms with who he is now and, more importantly, how he connects with those around him.

 

Hans Petter Moland has created a brilliant, laugh-out-loud comedy which plays a lot with what people don’t say and the silences that no-one wants to fill.  Populated with characters he describes as “really stupid people”, Moland has done wonders with Kim Fupz Aakeson’s fairly minimal script, dragging down the tempo of the actors to play up the awkwardness of the situations and the fact that people don’t seem to be conversing, just talking at one another.

There are so many excellent elements in this film, from the bleak location (it was shot one mile either side of the motorway in a run-down area of Oslo) to the awkward situation comedy that is rife throughout the picture.  Even the costuming is faultless, Moland describing it as people who have become stuck in the period when they thought they were at their best.  Clearly the 80s was a wonderful time for Jensen, the gang leader from Ulrik’s past.

The appearance of the local landscape appears to have rubbed off on the characters and everything and everyone looks more than a little shabby.  Even Jensen’s precious car isn’t quite what it used to be.  The grim surroundings only add to the humour – Ulrik’s first room outside Prison is as close to a cell as you could possibly want to imagine.  Ulrik’s new world is populated with places he can’t smoke and women he can’t avoid and it all seems suitably tired and drab.

The film is beautifully directed to emphasise the oddness of this world to Ulrik and Stellan Skarsgard plays him with quiet bemusement and the odd moment of gruffness.  He often appears to be an observer of this new life rather than a participant which makes the moments when he truly engages quietly moving.  The supporting characters are all brilliantly realised, especially Jorunn Kjellsby’s standoffish landlady, his new employer, Sven (Bjorn Sundquist) and the gang’s new boy, Rolf (Gard B. Eidsvold).

A Somewhat Gentle Man was, quite simply, the best film I saw at the LFF.

 

Down-to-earth and hilarious, I could watch it again right now – 9/10

Biutiful

“Months?”

 

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu describes himself as “obsessed with life” and this hectic yet thoughtful feature covers, as in his previous, fragmented work, many facets of human life.  Javier Bardem plays, Uxbal, a man who discovers he has only a short time to live and tries to ensure a brighter future for his children, and assist the struggling friends he has met along the way.  His journey links together stories of immigration and his own difficult family situation.

 

Biutiful is a sprawling mess of a film and yet technically it is supremely efficient.  Inarritu’s team has excelled itself in terms of cinematography and lighting and the direction is well-paced; sporadic bursts of frenetic energy giving way to lingering scenes as Uxbal’s own energy wanes.

Maybe it is due to this efficiency that I was mainly unmoved by Uxbal’s circumstances.  There were certainly moments in the film that shocked me but there was a lack of rawness – despite the squalid conditions and desperate situations faced by the characters – once one of the major events had occurred.

Once again, Inarritu weaves together a triumvirate of narratives - this time connected by a single person rather than an event – and while he pulls the threads together well, it left me feeling very much like an observer; I did not feel an emotional connection to the story. 

Bardem’s performance is faultless, playing the part of the dying man with grace, humility and blasts of desperation and despair.  He is a man struggling to get things right in the short time he has left and you get a real sense of loss from him when he can’t quite fix things the way he wants.

The camera work in the film and the production design are all beautifully handled.  The audience is completely enveloped by the mix of characters and places that make up the story and there is a wonderful exploration of the geography of Uxbal’s life.  It is dark and grimy, not the kind of place you really want to be for long, but it is fully inhabited by the characters, who breathe life into this grim reality.

 

Technically impressive but lacking connection – 7/10