This breathtaking and riveting film is based on a novella of the same name by Jonathan Ames. As the title suggests, it is the story of a man (Joe) deep in the throes of an existential crisis.
We see him hovering on a train platform evidently contemplating suicide and in a very real sense he is already half-dead inside. Ramsey described Joe as “a ghost in his own life”. Continue reading
“I was here for a moment, then I was gone. I wish you all a long and happy life”. This is how Susie Salmon, 14-year-old murder victim signs off.
She’s speaking from the ‘in-between’ world that is neither heaven or hell but is inhabited by her killer’s other victims. They drift serenely through cornfields under a vivid blue sky – an idealized world that you might find on a tacky greetings card. Peter Jackson pulls out all the stops to recreate this fantasy world, all it lacks are few Hobbits scampering around.
Meanwhile back on earth, Susie’s family are torn apart by her demise. It’s a story that would make more sense if Susie’s ghostly self could intervene directly and point them towards the serial killer. Instead, she merely hovers around while her father develops some kind of sixth sense and realizes who has done the dastardly deed.
You are left to assume that the murderer is sexually motivated but in Jackson’s sugar and spice take on Alice Sebold’s novel all such nastiness is implied and none is shown. Lynne Ramsey was slated to direct this until Film 4 went belly up and she would surely have given the story the harder edge it desperately needs. She spoke of disliking what she called the “my little pony, she’s in heaven’ story”. Jackson just wants to make a fantasy movie about a dark subject and it’s mix that never works.
Scenes from the movie that make the biggest impression on me in 2012
I watched a lot of movies this year but not that many in the cinema and not that many new releases.
Only one of my top ten movies actually came out this year and none were made by Americans.
Mostly, I’ve been going backwards with the Sight & Sound list of the best 50 films ever made being a constant point of reference.
A common thread running through most of these movies is that glib and preconceived notions of good and evil need to be constantly challenged.
I wrote short pieces about all of these films on this blog – hit the search button to find out more about why they made such an impression on me.
1. JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES directed by Chantal Akerman (1975)
2. A SEPARATION directed by Asghar Farhadl (2011)
3. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN directed by Lynne Ramsey (2011)
4. COME AND SEE directed by Elem Klimov (1985)
5. SHAME directed by Steve McQueen (2011)
6. AMELIE directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2001)
7. L’UOMO CHE VERRA’ directed by Giorgio Diritti (2009)
8. RASHOMAN directed by Akira Kurosawa (1950)
9. CESERE DEVE MORIRE directed by Taviani Brothers (2012)
10. UGETSU MONOGATARI directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (1953)
After the feel good pleasures of The Artist (which I blogged about yesterday) Lynne Ramsey’s We Need To Talk About Kevin is guaranteed to bring you down to earth with a jolt. It proves that you don’t need graphic violence to make an effective horror movie.
In a non-linear narrative, episodes from Eva Khatchadourian’s life converge as she tries to piece together the events before and after her 15 year old son commits horrific Columbine type murders.
In Lionel Shriver’s novel Eva’s grief and psychological torment unfold through a series of letters to her husband Franklin. The only way to render this in cinematic terms would have been to have a voiceover from start to finish, a device which Ramsey and co-scriptwriter Rory Stewart Kinnear wisely reject. The central perspective remains that of Eva, superbly played Tilda Swinton, but this is largely conveyed in visual terms. Continue reading
In the penultimate episode of Channel 4’s The Story of Film:An Odyssey, Mark Cousins interviewed New Zealand director Jane Campion.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Campion spoke about the need for women to have a more prominent voice in movies but also added: “one of the betrayals of the female is that they want to see themselves through male eyes”.
This struck me as a slightly different slant on the traditional feminist arguments about the dominance of the voyeuristic ‘male gaze’ and suggests that it is not simply a question of women gaining key roles in the production of TV and cinema but also of using such positions to challenge the patriarchal order.
Continue reading
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