Film Reviews by Steve

This bittersweet tale of North London life from Mike Leigh is a contemporary satire of conservative small business values; the sort of acute observation on the state of the nation which is typical of his films. But it's the depiction of an ordinary working class family who are just about getting-by, which makes a profound emotional connection.

Jim Broadbent is the comical dad, the sort of bloke who got on his bike, and never gave up, but isn't cut out to be an entrepreneur. He has two teenage daughters, with Clare Skinner as a plumber who looks to America for cultural inspiration, while Jane Horrocks plays a secret bulimic, who repeats leftwing soundbites like a talking doll.

The heart of the story- and its hero- is Alison Steadman as the wife/mother who keeps them together with mustn’t grumble make-do and untutored eloquence which no one will ever acknowledge or monetise because they occur within the home. The impression of unspoken anxiety as her children become independent adults is pitiful.

The minor characters, like Timothy Spall as an idiotic restauranteur, are too much like caricatures in a sketch show. But Steadman is inspirational. The scene in which she tries to motivate her depressed daughter with reminiscences from early marriage, is a heartbreaker. It's uneven, but this is Leigh's arrival as a major British film maker.

This gothic tale of the supernatural is not one of Roger Corman's cycle of films inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, but it is Poe-adjacent with its necromancy and madness and ghoulish goings-on in the family crypt. While there's a standard plot, the detail is a mess and but for a few lines of dialogue near the climax, it would be impossible to comprehend.

The main reason to watch is the oddity of casting two huge stars at opposite ends of their careers. Boris Karloff plays an elderly aristocrat haunted by visions of his dead wife. And Jack Nicholson is a roving French soldier who wants to get it on with her beautiful ghost (Sandra Knight). It's much more complicated than that, and yet still quite predictable.

Nicholson is annoyingly whiny, but Karloff had been turning out this kind of low budget horror for a lifetime and is clearly in his comfort zone. It's tempting to link his and Corman's relationship with Bela Lugosi's late career association with Ed Wood Jr. Yet although this was squeezed out with zero budget or expectation, it is not so-bad-it's-good trash.

And besides, that's not Karloff in the flood, it's a stand-in, which poor Bela might only have dreamed of. It's poorly edited and the use of multiple directors during its chaotic production is very evident. But there's a classy score... and it still functions as entertainment. Sure, it doesn't get close to delivering on it's title, but it's a miracle films like this even got made.

Offbeat comedy-drama which is more focused on the thematic content rather than prompting any laughter. Viggo Mortenson gives an Oscar nominated performance as a fearless/hubristic liberal intellectual who elects to rear his six children off-grid rather than within the conformity of mainstream society.

Only, when their estranged wife/mother dies, they leave the arboreal wilderness for her funeral and the kids are exposed to the epidemic of obesity, materialism... and idiocy which is modern life. There is some fun to be had with this culture clash comedy but this soon vanishes when dad starts to re-evaluate.

They whimsically celebrate Noam Chomsky day rather than Christmas, and find solutions in dogmatic socialism, which will probably prove divisive... Personally, these seem to be rational conclusions... And certainly, the analysis of lifestyle and childrearing for causes of the upsurge in mental illness is topical?

And that's without writer/director Matt Ross considering the impact of social media. The narrative runs a little wild in the last third, and strays into fantasy. But the impression of an actual family bound together by unorthodox values and experiences is really quite palpable. I'd happily watch their further adventures...

* the frequent swearing means this may not be family viewing.

The last film of Luis Buñuel invites reflection on the political circularity of his life. In his youth he was drawn to the socialist side during the lead-in to the Spanish Civil War, and then in the 1970s there was a new wave of political activism across Europe. And so the great absurdist has random acts of terrorism punctuate his whimsical love story.

It's based on a 19th century novel (by Pierre Louÿs) but set in contemporary Seville. An affluent older man recklessly desires and pursues a beautiful young woman. Which doesn't instantly sound like the final statement from a legendary surrealist film maker and artist... but his masterstroke is to cast two female actors in the ingenue role!

Apparently the director didn't originally intend this oddity, but it opens up so many amusing thematic considerations, and without this innovation, it would hardly feel like a Buñuel film at all. His stalwart leading man Fernando Rey plays the rich old fool, with Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina alternating as his capricious object of desire.

Maybe this unorthodox love triangle reflects a wish for the sexes- despite the return of political unrest- to call off their eternal war... This is primarily a divertissement; a spoof on the quirks of the great game of love. As a comedy it's not all that funny, but there's the offbeat charm typical of later Buñuel, as well as the mockery of the bourgeoisie.

Be prepared to shed actual tears. This is an explosive, angry polemic about children of all ages taken out of care homes in the UK during the 1950-60s and shipped to families or religious orders in Australia, where they were often exploited. And in some cases, abused.

This is a biopic of Nottingham social worker Margaret Humphries who brought the scandal to public attention and steadfastly reconnected many of the grown up orphans with their birth mothers, who were usually guilty of nothing more than being poor and unmarried.

And yes... debut director Jim Loach is the son of Ken Loach. There is some similarity in his approach and themes; his moral indignation is incredibly powerful and the horror of the offence is hard to bear. Except Loach Jr. is more willing to pull the emotional levers,

Emily Watson is deeply moving as the social worker who brings truth, and maybe even peace to the traumatised survivors, but is contaminated by the process. The whole cast is impressive, and this feels like a labour of love. It's a heartbreaking account of a real life hero.

Spain is an ideal country to customise the post-millennial popularity of Nordic noir as they can draw on the dark and relatively recent history of fascism... But what to do about all that sunshine! This turns the problem into a virtue by setting the story in the alien, cheerless southern marshlands.

The colours are muted and the director (Alberto Rodríguez) shoots on overcast days. With the flat, ominous landscape, the low, brooding sky auspiciously captured in ultra widescreen... plus the gloomy score; the atmosphere is the best part of this understated serial killer story set in the years after Franco.

Javier Gutiérrez and Raúl Arévalo make a stark contrast with the locals as laconic metropolitan cops who arrive in the poor, rural backwater to inquire into the deaths of local teenage girls... But the detectives investigate each other too, because after 40 years of dictatorship, suspicion runs deep.

Maybe the plot could have better organised, but it's still a compelling- and grim- mystery. And anyway, most of the interest is in what lies beneath the surface. This is a nasty, pessimistic neo-noir with political implications which struck a nerve in its own country... and has a way of staying in the memory.

This was near the start of a wave of action films in the 2010s about male middle aged wage slaves who respond with unexpected resilience and violence to an extreme threat on the family. Here, Vincent Lindon makes plans to spring his wife (Diane Kruger) from prison where she's serving 20 years for a murder she didn't commit....

Which takes him deep into the criminal underworld.... Of course realism is not a factor, these stories work on primal emotions. They reflect the fantasy that a woman may count on unconditional protection. And for male viewers, that he may be able to provide it! So while this is a thriller, it's really as much about the relationships.

Lindon's role is a wish fulfilment; he's strong willed and there's a whiff of Old Spice to his retro-masculinity.... but he also feeds the baby. The crisis triggers his absolute, ruthless commitment, as he steals cash off a psycho-drug dealer to fund the jailbreak. Despite previously being a fairly unremarkable teacher of French literature.

Debut director Fred Cavayé builds up incredible momentum and also a fair amount of suspense. And there's a nice connection between the hero and his similarly laconic father (Olivier Perrier) which proves less is more when it comes to sentiment. The US remake- The Next Three Days (2010)- is okay, but this is the one to watch.

Inevitably divisive satire aimed at the Machiavellian strategies of the Republican political machine in the US. This is set during the Presidency of Bush the Elder and what may have been slightly exaggerated for comic effect, now feels like understatement. It's clever and insightful, but not all that funny and maybe even demoralising.

Writer/director/star Tim Robbins also co-wrote the songs. He plays a right wing folk singer who is rolling back the liberal attitudes of the '60s counterculture with charisma and smart messaging taken from advertising. And then he runs for the Senate. This is politics as showbiz and by now everyone is thinking of Donald Trump.

Today, most of this is commonplace. The film got media attention because there is a fake assassination... which Robbins tried to play down. The candidate's appeal is a mix of small state/low tax conservatism for the wealthy, and divisive hate for low information voters... and this is all slowed down so we see how the method works.

There is interest in the folk songs, with the troubadour politician like Bob Dylan in reverse, singing tracks such as The Times Are Changin' Back. There are fun cameos from Hollywood liberals. It's acutely observed, but it's hard to know who this is for; maga will dismiss it as propaganda, while for the left this is your worst nightmare.

The opening text informs us the year is 1920, and yet this reflects the sort of rural feudalism which stretches back into the middle ages. Which is presumably a political position taken by Zhang Yimou, and a criticism of China before Maoism which might have appealed to the Communist Party...

Instead, it was banned because they felt the unsympathetic patriarch might be assumed to represent the present day government! Which is crazy! Anyway, the malign elder (Wei Li) runs a successful fabric dying business and purchases a beautiful young wife, Ju Dou (Gong Li) to provide an heir.

Only he is cruel, and drives her into the arms of his nephew (Baotian Li). So who actually is the father of her little boy? This is romantic melodrama- with supernatural implications- and reminiscent of the postwar cinema of Kenji Mizoguchi... Except for the utterly gorgeous colour process.

Zhang Yimou was a graduate in cinematography and has an artistic feel for composition, plus the spectacular use of light and filters. While this will appeal to those with an interest in Chinese social history, it's mainly the exquisite Technicolor photography* which makes it worth seeing.

*please note the current dvd release looks like a transfer from a video cassette cropped for tv use. Plus the sound is poor. All Zhang's early films are overdue restoration and bluray release.

Middlebrow divorce comedy based on the breakup of Noah Baumbach's parents while he was a teenager growing up in Brooklyn, New York. Along with the droll satire and wry witticisms there's an impression of raw personal experience. But it could have been inspired by the Modern Parents in Viz... and the script is ostentatiously influenced by Woody Allen.

Except for the stoical mother, the self-absorbed family is hard to like, yet those who experienced this as a child may feel an ache of recognition. It's not a heavy drama but it still conveys the trauma. Jesse Eisenberg plays an astonishingly supercilious adolescent whose personality is distorted by the narcissism of his father (Jeff Daniels), a writer in decline...

It's incredible his clever, levelheaded wife (Laura Linney) tolerated her husband's egotism for more than a weekend. Yet they have a second child (Owen Kline) now entering puberty without much guidance. The wife's own debut novel has been well received and has a very different boyfriend (William Baldwin). So the friction with her ex begins to catch fire.

It's a concise film, like a screen version of a short story, which doesn't slow down in search of profundity. There is a detailed introduction to the vulnerabilities of the divided family and some understated warmth at the fadeout. Plus a feel for bourgeoise suburban Brooklyn in the 1990s. It was an impressive breakthrough for the director, which he hasn't yet equalled.

This gets overlooked now as a 1970s conspiracy thriller, even though it was a huge box office smash at the time- adapted by William Goldman from his own bestseller. There was topicality in the story of an ex-Gestapo doctor in New York, as this was the era of the Nazi hunters. There are also reflections on the legacy of McCarthyism.

But now it has lost any contemporary gloss, this can at times feel like hard work. It takes a good hour to get its pieces into place; the twisty plot has more holes than a string vest and labours under considerable padding. At 38 Dustin Hoffman is far too old to play an undergraduate and certainly doesn't convince as a marathon runner!

He doesn't even seem all that bright though he's supposed to be as smart as a whip... Still, there are compensations. Laurence Olivier brings that steely edge, which he could never quite conceal. He's the former Nazi medic chasing down some diamonds he stowed away in the concentration camps. Which have gone missing in transit.

And Hoffman is the wrong man who is caught up in the intrigue. It comes alive in the second hour, particularly with the infamous/legendary dentist chair torture scene. Director John Schlesinger adds some context with an impression of the US in crisis, which feels topical again. But this is mainly worth seeing for Olivier asking if it's safe.

Experimental head movie from peak-period Werner Herzog. Naturally, this description will turn off many viewers, which is fair enough as this is a slow, psychedelic allegory rather than glossy arthouse. But like all his German films, it is unorthodox, personal and eccentric. So, a must-see for hardcore Herzog aficionados.

At first glance this is a hallucinatory fantasy about an 18th century Bavarian village shocked by the sudden death of an artisan who takes the secret of their unique local glass to the grave. So how will the left behind survive without the formula? But this is only the vehicle for some visionary subtext on the end of society...

Famously, the director placed his actors under hypnosis to create an impression of group hysteria. This inevitably makes it feel soporific. But then, it's this which makes it so totally Herzog. The prog-rock soundtrack and the far-out digressions on the voice-over also convey a pungent waft of mid-70s/late-hippie atmos...

Which isn't ever cool, but the reflections on a post-industrial decline seem quite relevant now, when some (like anti-vaxxers) are turning away from science, and experts. It's an absurd oddity, and I'm not sure I'd take my date to see Heart of Glass 2, but it's certainly a highlight in the career of a capricious maverick.

This gets called the Polish Citizen Kane (1941) because it uses a similar narrative framework of flashbacks. And not because it is a masterpiece of visual style! The lighting is awfully flat and the locations/interiors are depressingly derelict. This is Poland in the economic doldrums, under occupation; Andrzej Wajda's film is a historic document.

The marble statues of the old Communist proletarian heroes are now locked away in the basements of museums. A student film maker (Krystyna Janda) stirs up official resistance when she researches one of the star workers of the 1950s for a tv documentary. Her investigation uncovers some suppressed, awkward national memories...

Besides the Soviets are still in control; Stalin is dead but there is no meaningful democracy. Wajda's picture itself was a provocation of state censorship... Jerzy Radziwilowicz stars as the exploitable bricklayer made into a celebrity by the Party propaganda machine but then humiliated when he falls from favour. And then he disappears...

Wajda had a gift for positioning himself in the way of history and the themes of his subversive politics got tangled up in the Polish Solidarity movement over the next decade. The documentary approach is downbeat, which feels appropriate and- after a slow first hour- eventually becomes fascinating. This is a landmark of dissident cinema.

Delightful screwball comedy-romance which is quick to acknowledge its love for the classics of the studio age. There's even a skit on the Mouth of Truth scene in Roman Holiday (1953). Of course, such films live or die on the charm of their stars. And it lucks out with the winsome-but-sexy Marisa Tomei and a puppyish Robert Downey Jr.

She's the ditzy/impulsive bride-to-be on the run and he's the disorientated male caught in the vortex of her craziness. Hollywood has been making this film since the coming of sound, but this is among the best in colour. When just a precocious child, she learns from an Ouija board that her future husband will be called... Damon Bradley.

But she's engaged to a foot doctor named Dwayne. For complex reasons she flies to Italy in pursuit of her destiny, only to meet cute with a flummoxed shoe salesman. So as well as the stars- and Marisa's adorable overbite- there's the glorious photography of the tourist hotspots of Venice, Rome, sunny Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast..

And if that's not already too much, it's shot by Sven Nykvist! Plus there are the sentimental Italian ballads... And Ms. Tomei wears some stunning gowns for a girl with one suitcase. This is sure to appeal to anybody who loves screwball classics like It Happened One Night (1934); it's one of those films like the ones they don't make anymore,

Lifestyle comedy/drama/romance about new graduates looking for meaningful relationships and a way into employment without selling out. It's a story retold for every generation, but this gained impetus because it was released shortly after the idea of a post-boomer cohort with shared experiences and values became news, in this case generation x.

This theory actually comes from advertising, which is ironic as these 20-something Texans claim to be pushing against commercialism, while exclusively buying high street brands. Anyway, their experiences don't differ much from now, except there's no internet. So Winona Ryder records her slacker contemporaries on video, and promotes the content.

Yes, there's Winona, and how '90s is that!? Ethan Hawke co-stars as an edgy rock and roller/English grad, who is her best friend from college... Ben Stiller completes the triangle as a youth tv freelance who just doesn't get the new counterculture and may be a yuppie anyway... It's an ensemble but Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn barely survive the edit.

Inevitably there's a soundtrack of college radio muzak suitable for playing in coffee chains. And this touches on why it feels hard to love; for all the hip no-logo posturing, it's full of product placement. There's no opinion on stuff that actually turned out to matter, like climate. It's awfully superficial, but may convey nostalgia if this was your go around.