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Woolfofthewood
Reviews
Prospect (2018)
Rewarding sci fi with heart
This is a great little movie with real heart. The story is fairly straightforward - it seems - but hides its light and complexity under the survival needs of the characters. In fact, having just caught up with it on streaming platform it's one which is likely to stay with me more memorably than a big budget prospecting style movie like the alien covenant films.
The props and makes are grittily real - all makeshift weapons, a beat up 'old car' style spaceship and no horror on the planet except other humans. The costumes are also all made up of different materials and some look like repurposed bits of kit - as they would be if people came from different places. Everything needs maintaining and the perils of kit and tech malfunctions give more than enough anxiety that the big shocks of other movies are not needed here. It's a human story set in another world - but with all of humanity's problems transposed to another setting.
Although there is action here the real narrative revolves around the engaging dialogue - and silences - as the characters are on a journey to find out what matters to them. To the main players it is connection and living apart from human greed - those who want to merely plunder other worlds are shown as the real danger here - those who would exploit are the monsters and those who want to see others survive are those we care about. This narrative arc is refreshing - there is no need for any external or alien threats - characters are thwarted by the fears and insecurities of other humans.
And the heart is there in spades - this little movie feels and looks like it has been made with love and care by actors, writers, direction and artistry of costume/prop/scenery - it shows. I'll be thinking about the way this one looked, felt and what it said for a long time.
Mothering Sunday (2021)
Deliciously slow, modernist drama
So this film is simply gorgeous.
It has a period feel but isn't stuffy. There are as many scenes without clothes as with them - and the actors are beautifully unselfconscious and believable.
The Nivens: an unfathomably brittle, broken and grieving mother (Olivia Coleman) and gentle, empty and lost father and husband (Colin Firth) are exquisitely cast and played - Firth visibly flinches in pain and empathy as Cole snaps at his continued efforts at politeness and generosity to friends. Their lack of sons is palpable in Firth's playing or Mr Niven's gentle paternal encouragement of all the young people they share their lives with (the maid and narrator included) and Cole's sharp silence.
The character of the narrator binds the temporal shifts together as we see how the events of one day can impact a whole life. Amazing acting from Odessa Young makes this film a joy to watch.
The only complaint is the slightly obvious addition of the narrator as an old woman (Glenda Jackson) - this trope is, no doubt, in the source material but could have been omitted as it only serves to make the structure a little cliched.
Otherwise a wonderful and sumptuous - and incredibly well acted - film which is well worth watching over and over again .
The Mercy (2018)
The family's story more than the overreacher's.
I enjoyed the film and appreciate that it tried to tell the story from the point of view of the family of Crowhurst.
Because of the focus on this aspect of the story the editing splices scenes of the family and the effect on them/what was going on back home alongside the footage of Crowhurst on his boat slowly descending into a kind of madness. This does lessen the intensity of the (no doubt expensive) filming which must have been done on the boat with Firth playing the (tortured, and eventually freed) man who had backed himself into a corner. However, it also shows the reality faced by his wife - one man's descent has been seen before in countless tragedy style plays and movies before and we never see the impact it has on those left behind. It is interesting to see this - although it makes for a more complex and less straightforward narrative it is good to see the director trying to tell this story as much as the more compelling (but told many times before) one of the man who over-reaches.
It is possible that placing the film in two halves might have been better: seeing the whole story from one point of view - what was going on at home first; and then filling in the detail of what was actually happening, with Crowhurst aware of his deception. This would have allowed for the story of the wife and children to be told and then the intensity of the madness would have been more claustrophobic knowing how it impacts on those at home - a final scene of the children waiting for their father would have been more deeply felt...
However, a good movie with plenty to think about and a good attempt to tell both sides of the story. Some good acting does justice to the tale told and, I feel, shows respect the real people who it represents - when it might have taken the easy route just for the sake of the story.
Operation Mincemeat (2021)
Great for the whole family
Just watched this with my whole family - 15 and 11 year olds and parents. Everyone enjoyed it.
I can't rate it highly enough for that!
The true story aspect of the insane deception at the heart of the plot is engaging enough for everyone. Whether it is 100% true or not the main details are and only the fastidious would begrudge the embellishments which might keep other interested in the story. We found that the characterisation and development of the individuals - who took the secrets with them and (Fleming excepted) never gained the limelight for their eccentric efforts during these covert operations - to be handled with deft humanity. Well cast and the actors clearly had a good time making the film. Simple, clean and smart.
I also particularly cheered the prominent role of women which is shown in the piece - yes, as love interest - but the romance is based on a profound respect for the intelligence and self-command of the women. It shows their role as muse but also highlights how some women found their world opened up during war time and allowed them to find their own way.
The kids wanted to ask lots of interesting questions about the aspects of war and politics which we don't hear about at the end and were as spellbound as the adults throughout - following every word, every twist and turn.
Genova (2008)
Atmospheric and human
This movie has a documentary feel in the beautiful setting of Genova. The lighting and sound is natural and offers a feel of walking through the city with the characters, feeling their excitement, their fears. A story which, although laced with tragedy is also full of the banality of life's little dramas. The relationships between the father and daughters are unforced and are all expressed with an honesty and naturalness by the cast. Everything is shot with an eye for what we would see were we also there which gives an intense atmosphere - you can see, hear and almost smell and taste the city.
Some reviewers found the film didn't fit into a specific genre and this bothered them but this didn't worry me - I found the family themes to be rendered with both levity and gravitas and loved that I was able to travel vicariously and become immersed in a new place with characters who were warm and human.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)
Charming, complex tale of redemption
This is a fantastic beast of a movie - which will charm wizarding world fans young and old. The creatures are at the forefront in this one, developing characteristic and (pun intended) branching out a little on their own... the bowtruckle, Pick, in particular, blows his raspberries at exactly the right time to delight the child in us all.
Eddie Redmayne's deliciously coy Newt is as open and thoughtfully crafted as ever - enchanting and just as that gets too much creating humour in the darkest moments of the film. In the previous films his character was stronger than the others but his shining gleam is matched in this movie by Jude Law's sharp suited best-magical-sexy-hipster-spy-in-town version of Dumbledore who has a permanent gentle twinkle in his eye (which sits well with the newly introduced Gambon-esque burr in his vowels). And Jessica Williams' Lally is a piece of divine intervention - we finally have a brilliant and beautiful witch in the franchise who is as suave, assured, capable - and loveable as the wizards. Dan Folger adds the sparkle and humour of the Everyman muggle in the story - the character taken along with the ensemble for his 'full and pure heart' - and Folger plays the character's delight at being there which makes him intoxicating to watch.
Yet this slick and expensive move is not just a story for kids about magic with some good characters. Some of the magical lore runs pretty deep for the magi-enthusiasts - but at it's core this is actually a story for the grown ups in the room. It's a story about being messy and complex, not always getting things right in life, even as an adult, but, as Newt Scamander observes, trying to make things better, trying to do the right thing. A story about redemption. The kids might learn a thing or two about adult life too. 'Do what is right, not what is easy' is the touch line here. Delivered awkwardly by an unconfident Newt playing messenger.
There are thrills and spills, and the ensemble shows that there is strength in numbers, actually maybe a strength in making mistakes too; that the very best of humanity (magical or not) can be corrupted and misled. It's also a reminder that in our weakest and most vulnerable moments we can affect a change in others and raise questions; in exposing ourselves and giving something of ourselves away we can engender greater trust and spark debate. In this story it is only arrogance which is the most dangerous quality. Newt's accepting and kind method with creatures is his anti-hero superpower - the characters' vulnerabilities extend the best in others.
This was a film made during covid and was subject to many changes and challenges - and yet the sum of it s parts offers viewers a - politically charged - packed, funny, thoughtful few moments of magical escapism. It's certainly not perfect and wears its vulnerabilities on its sleeve - but then again, who isn't a little bit messy?