What I’ve Been Watching: Hugo

“What makes a great children’s film?”

This is the question I have discussed with many people who have seen and loved Hugo, arising from the almost universal comment: “It’s great, but it’s not a kids’ film.”

Perhaps it comes from the need to justify loving such an imaginative and deep tale; or perhaps it says more about the quality of live action children films we have come to expect; or perhaps it is simply because this is not a film children would enjoy.

The plot concerns an orphan, Hugo (Asa Butterfield), trying to rebuild a broken mechanical man, a project he started with his now deceased father. To get the parts he needs, he steals from a shopkeeper at the train station where he lives. The shopkeeper (Ben Kingsley) catches him and takes away the book with the instructions on how to build the auto man again. However, with the help of the shopkeeper’s goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretx), they try and get the book back and rebuild the one link Hugo has to his father.

All of which, especially when written down, sounds very much like the plot to a fairly typical children’s film. Deceased parents; mysterious father figure; an unlikely friendship; and mystery a plenty.

What perhaps differentiates it from other kids’ films is the way it interweaves the history of cinema into its plot in the second and third acts. As such, Hugo would be as good an introduction as any to the films and techniques of cinema in the early twentieth century.

You see, what marks a good children’s film from a great children’s film is simply the way it captivates the imagination. When one thinks of the truly great children’s films that have withstood the test of time, one might mention Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, Star Wars or E.T..

What all these films have in common is the way, whether an adult or a child, we get completely caught up in the world they have created. There is also a sense of the mysterious the film leaves us with when it ends. Where is Oz? Where does Mary Poppins come from? How did the Empire start? Where exactly is E.T.’s home and what is it like? It is these unanswered questions that allow us to stay within the world’s these films have created, they allow us to continue to explore them in our imaginations.

It is also what causes some films and characters to lose their allure. The Star Wars prequels don’t work as well as the originals precisely because everything is explained; monsters become less, rather than more, scary once we actually see them (Jaws, Cloverfield, etc.) Mystery and imagination go hand-in-hand and allow all of us, whether adult or child, to remain within the worlds of our favourite films.

Perhaps the appeal of Hugo lies in the classical appeal of cinema itself. The mysterious way reels of frames produce moving pictures; or the imagination so evident in the works of early cinema Scorsese shows us with such affection.

Hugo has all the depth and intellect of the great adult films, but ultimately it has the heart and imagination of all the best children’s films. Whatever ay you slice it, it’s simply one of the best films of 2011.

What I’ve Been Watching: My Week With Marilyn

My Week With Marilyn opens with Marliyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) performing the seductive and flirtatious Heat Wave as we cut to the main character, Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), his eyes glued to the screen Monroe is projected onto. Williams conveys the playful sauciness of Monroe perfectly, allowing us to understand the fascination and allure that surrounded her throughout the 1950s.

The film features Clark, not Monroe, as its central character. It tells the true life tale of how he met Monroe on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). Clark had his first job working as the third assistant director, a role which basically has him doing precisely what the director, Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) tells him to.

Fortunately for Clark, it soon becomes apparent that his role will involve doing his best to comfort and reassure the insecure Monroe, who is frequently turning up late to set, forgetting her lines, and thinks Olivier hates her. The more the two spend time together, the more Clark falls for Monroe. However, from the title alone, we know that however much Monroe may enjoy Clark’s company, their romance is to be short-lived.

Williams is perfectly suited to a role that requires her on one hand to be Monroe as we see her on screen, alluring, playful and impossible to take your eyes off, and on the other hand, the person who lacked confidence in herself, and still dealing with the emotional trauma of her childhood.

Williams conveys the sense that Monroe was as surprised by anyone by her own success, and completely unsure as to what her actual talent was. The central conflict of the film sees Olivier and Monroe look at each other with contempt and envy. As one character puts it: “Olivier is a great actor who wants to be a film star; and Monroe a great film star who wants to be an actor.”

There’s a sense in which the film is trying to move away from a more emotional story trying to get out. We all know how the life of Marilyn Monroe eventually ends, and it seems to me the decision of Clark to write a book about his experience decades later shows the weight the events of the film must have had on him.

Depite this, the film’s ending seems to see Clark’s character grow up and learn his lesson very quickly. One character remarking “you seem to be about a foot taller since I last saw you.” It’s as though My Week with Marilyn is trying to paint its tale as nothing more than a holiday fling with someone who happens to be Marilyn Monroe; rather than a film about a young man whose fling is with Marilyn Monroe, and how strange, exhilarating and painful that must have been.

For it seems, against all odds, that Clark was just as close, and yet just as far away as anyone else to finding out what lay between the on-screen persona and the off-screen paranoia. Then again, maybe we should dismiss this film, as we might Marilyn, as light, breezy and never to be taken too seriously.

What I’ve Been Watching: 50/50

If you were a casino game, you’d have the best odds!

Cancer. Not the easiest of topics to bring to the screen, and perhaps one the last topics you’d expect Seth Rogen to be involved with. Yet here he is, and you know what the film, like Seth Rogen’s character, is surprisingly funny, charming, heart-warming and genuine.

It focuses on Adam (Joseph Gordon Levitt) who finds out at the start of the film he’s got a rare form of cancer. The film follows his journey as he comes to terms with the fact, at the age of 27, he only has a 50% chance of surviving the disease.

There to help, and indeed hinder him, are his girlfriend of only a few months, Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard); his best friend and co-worker Jack (Seth Rogen); his inexperienced therapist (Anna Kendrick); and his mother (Angelica Huston).

Based on the experiences of Seth Rogen’s best friend, and writer of the film, Will Reiser, the film manages to convey the emotions of a young man facing his own mortality in what feels like a very real and true way.

From the moment Adam is told about his cancer, we immediately ‘get’ the shock this must be to someone of his age, as well as screaming inwardly for some humanity from the doctor who tells him the news, describing the rare form of cancer as ‘fascinating’ as oppose to tragic.

From there, we are taken every step of the way, as Adam has to see the pain in his mother’s eyes as he tells her the news; his first round of chemotherapy; and his attempts to try and forget about both the physical and emotional pain through a combination of drugs, alcohol and sex.

Not only is the emotional journey of the film’s protagonist handled well, but 50/50 also does a great job of showing the impact the disease has on the people who love him most. It wisely shies away from allowing all the characters to express precisely what they feel about the situation. Instead, they simply try and be there for Adam, rather than giving the kind of rousing speeches emotional movies like this can be tempted to rely upon.

Reiser seems to be saying that he didn’t need people to say or do anything for him while he was going through cancer treatment but merely be.

50/50 is one of the best surprises of a film to come out this year. It’s emotional without being too sappy, and life-affirming without being preachy. A cheesier film reviewer than I might end a review like this by saying “Chances of you enjoying 50/50? 100%.” But I’m not going to fall for that trap…

What I’ve Been Watching: The Awakening

Ghost stories are not exactly new to cinema, or in fact new to stories in general. The idea of telling stories about deceased ancestors seems to go hand in hand with the very tradition of story-telling.

Perhaps I should not be surprised that it is to this sub-genre so many of my favourite horror films of the last ten years have come from. The Orphanage, The Others and The Ring all developing the kind of unsettling atmosphere only the best horror movies manage to reproduce.

The secret to all these films is allowing the scares to come from the unseen rather than the seen (“torture porn” movies take note). Perhaps it is a little like the teacher who to get control of an unruly class, does not shout manically, but rather stands quietly, forcing the pupils to pay attention to their stern, unblinking manner; the unheard, rather than the heard proving the most effective in this instance.

The Awakening follows a lot of these rules. In it, we follow Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall), the infamous ghost hunter who has no belief in anything supernatural. The opening scene of the film sees Cathcart uncovering the tricks of a conman claiming he can speak to the dead. It finishes with one of the woman whose been conned attacking Cathcart, such is this woman’s desperation to be tricked into believing she can have contact with her dead son.

This examination of grief is something that the film is primarily concerned with as we are asked to question whether a belief in ghosts is a necessary part of the mourning process or a distraction that prevents us from moving on?

After this introduction into Cathcart’s world, a stranger called Mallory (Dominic West) appears at her door. He is a teacher at a boarding school, and asks her to investigate what could possibly have literally scared one of his pupils to death.

The setting for the piece is shortly after the First World War, “never has there been a better time for ghosts,” Cathcart remarks in her book on ghost hunting. All the characters in the film, both adults and children, remain haunted by the loss of loved ones. For Cathcart it is the death of her lover; for Mallory, survivor’s guilt.

The beginning of the film sees Cathcart meticulously try and find out which of the pupils, or indeed the teachers, is responsible for what she believes to be a prank gone wrong. However, as she stays longer in the school she starts seeing things that could not possibly be there, and becoming more and more paranoid about her safety.

The first two thirds of the film remain this moody, atmospheric and mysterious. However, arguably the third act does a poor job of holding things together, with an arguably unnecessary twist distracting from all the genuine depth and troubles of the film’s protagonists.

Ultimately it is the strong themes of memory, guilt and longing that allow the film to rise above the finale’s slightly weak plotting. Like The Orphanage, it is a film which is probably just as strong on second viewing, since the work it puts into its characters cannot distract us from its attempts to ‘wow’ the audience with twists we’ve seen too many times before.

Rom-Rom-Coms, Trolls and Animals Called Brian – My Round-Up of Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2011

The 23rd to the 25th September saw a weekend of events for the Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival . This year’s festival, entitled Once Upon a Time, combined films, installations and locations around Berwick to explore the depiction of fairy tales on screen.

I was at the festival on Friday and Saturday, and managed to make it along to three of the feature films; the Young Filmmaker’s Award; and plenty of the installations that made up the Artist’s Trail.

Overall, it was a great experience, the staff organising the festival should be complimented for both their friendliness and enthusiasm for everything on display. The programme was very well thought out, and epitomised what a small festival like this should be like: a strong theme, great use of locations around the town, and a good variety of films for audiences to choose from.

I Am Nasrine

There are not very many films set in the North-East of England, so it was great to see one in which it features so prominently at a festival in the North-East.

Opening in Iran, I Am Nasrine follows a brother, Ali, and a sister, Nasrine, as they are forced to leave Iran to make a new life for themselves in England. Nasrine, who is just 16, enrols in a local school a strikes up a friendship with Nicole, a member of the traveling community. Encouraged by Nicole, Nasrine starts to enjoy all the freedoms being away from both Iran and her parents affords.

Meanwhile, Ali has to work two jobs just to get by. He finds it much more difficult to adjust to life in the UK, and shows little interest in anything other than his work. However, we soon realise Ali, like Nasrine, is longing to form a new identity for himself, if only he had the confidence to show people who he really was.

Giving a depiction of modern Britain very similar to other social realists like Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, I Am Nasrine paints a portrait of the country which shows a great gulf in civil liberties between it and Iran, and yet the same kind of close-minded and ultimately cruel people that forced Nasrine and Ali to flee their home. Part of the message of the film seems to be that regardless of what a government says is right or wrong, people will still find ways to be suspicious of one another and inflict cruelty on one another.

Moomin and Midsummer Madness

I must confess to never having ‘got’ the Moomins growing up. Their world seemed strange and foreign, and I seemed to find it difficult to relate to their stories. However, the chance to see them on the big screen seemed like a the perfect opportunity to give them another chance.

Moomin and Midsummer Madness is a movie produced in 2008, and is a compilation of the relevant episodes from the stop-motion TV series made between 1977 and 1982.

In it we see Moomintroll and his family forced to leave their home after a volcano erupts and causes a huge flood to engulf their residence. Luckily a theatre floats by, and the family jumps aboard to discover the joys of producing their very own play.

I watched the film with a mixture of delight and suspicion. Delight at incredibly uncynical and innocent nature of the story, but suspicion as to whether it would appeal to the 21st century children of today.

In one of the opening scenes for example, the volcano causes the earth to split open and Moomintroll loses his toothbrush. He seems genuinely upset about this, as do all the characters around him, and the film goes to great lengths to make us understand what a tragedy this was. However, I couldn’t help but wonder whether the kids watching would value their dental hygiene as much as Moomintroll clearly does.

Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. On my way out I heard a girl, who appeared to be around four years old, still concerned about the toothbrush that had disappeared a good hour and a half earlier. “Where did it go?” she asked “Will they never get it back?” It would appear, regardless of the culture you grow up in, the best stories remain so generations on.

I left the theatre entranced and won over by the power of the Moomins, and hope I will get another chance to witness their charm and curiosity in the near future.

Chris Anderson Award for Best Young Filmmaker

On Saturday afternoon I sat in a theatre surrounded by dozens of faces soon to be projected on the big screen in front of me. The purpose was to celebrate young people’s efforts in creating their very own short films, and afterwards one was chosen to receive the Chris Anderson Award.

Two of the films stood out from the crowd. Driving Me Crazy, which expertly balanced comedy and horror, as the central character takes her driving test. The problem is she’s absolutely obsessed with her boyfriend, and can’t concentrate on her driving long enough to do anything her examiner asks.

What starts out as a fairly gentle comedy, then takes a darker twist, as we soon realise the boyfriend isn’t as enthused as his obsessive other half.

With a great performance from the lead, as she gradually changes from ditzy to psychotic, Driving Me Crazy was a very well structured, funny and gruesome tale, and rightly received a special mention from the jury.

The film which won the award was entitled Brian and Brian’s Amazing Eggventure, a stop motion animation by Mark Boston. It concerned two friends: Brian (a gorilla) and Brian (a duck) who are trying to prevent the world from being overrun by fried eggs.

Just as bizarre as it sounds, the best way to describe it is perhaps The Mighty Boosh for the Spongebob generation. Another good point of reference is the French stop motion film A Town Called Panic.

Young director, Boston, should be complimented for creating such a bizarre, bold and brilliant film with such a unique and uncompromising vision propelling it.

Hello! How are you?

Eastern European cinema is not known for its comedy, as anyone who’s seen Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two Days can testify to. However, coming straight from Romania is a Romantic Comedy which tries to change that stereotype; a Rom-Rom-Com if you will.

In a plot similar to The Pina Colada Song, or perhaps even You’ve Got Mail, a husband and wife are getting bored and frustrated by their marriage, and turn to online chat rooms to try and find another kindred spirit. Predictably, they meet one another, and fall in love all over again. The only problem is, they don’t know it’s their spouse on the other end, and both go to great lengths to make sure the other person does not find out about their online affair.

A subplot concerns their son who is exploring his own sexuality, and discovering he has a real knack for picking up women. At the start of the movie, he comes across as arrogant, and completely self-centred. However, he soon realises he wants more than sex, and so he too must explore what brings him satisfaction in a relationship, which in turn causes him to question what he really values in life.

This being an Eastern European film, there’s still plenty of room for misery. The predictable third act reveal makes for some unpredictable consequences. Things aren’t so easily resolved for the husband and wife as we might have hoped. The film often leaves the audience frustrated as we see the potential of a couple unwilling or perhaps unable to rekindle the obvious love and affection that bubbles underneath the surface.

The message of the film seems to be that love is there for people who want to find it, but it often leaves us exposed in ways we may not like.

The Artist’s Trail

A number of short, artistic, installations dotted around the town made up The Artist’s Trail. The highlight for me was a display entitled Maria. To view it, you had to walk through a dark tunnel and peer through some peep holes. As you did so, you saw a hologram of a woman clothed in white with her back to you slowly dancing. The location and way in which you had to view it gave the whole thing the feeling of some kind of bizarre high-class peepshow. An eerily beautiful exhibit.

Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival will return in September 2012 with extra funding and as a result a much bigger programme. You can keep up to date with them all year round via their twitter page.