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Legend (2015)
A gangster movie, but not really.
'Legend' is a 2015 gangster film set in 1960s' London, written and directed by Academy Award winner Brian Helgeland, writer of L.A. Confidential and Mystic River, and starring Tom Hardy and Emily Browning. As previously stated, the film is set in London, during the 1960s, and it follows the story of two identical twin brothers, Ronald and Reginald Kray, two of the most notorious criminals in British history, struggling to get on top and enter gangster legend. First of all, 'Legend' manages to almost perfectly capture the feel and aesthetics of the period it is set in, along with all the cars, the buildings and even the soundtrack. However, the high point of the movie would have to be Tom Hardy. The British actor pulls off a memorable performance, portraying both of the Krays, and it almost seems as if he is not alone. He plays Reginald as the mature and calculated one – the one with the brains – and Roland as the act- now-think-later type. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a problem with Ronald's character; not his character in particular, but mostly with the way he was presented to the audience. The film takes too much time desperately trying to make him as crazy, random and unconventional as possible, it eventually becomes predictable. But he's still better than all the other characters which, except for Reggie, are all one-dimensional. At some points, I found myself unable to distinguish which character is supposed to be who and do what, even though their faces aren't similar. And that is pretty surprising, considering the fact that Brian Helgeland won an Oscar for one of his screenplays. And even if we ignore that problem, the movie still feels so static and boring. Nothing interesting or gangster related thing happens until the final quarter of the runtime. They only kill two people and one of the kills isn't even for ''gangster''-related reasons. All they do is own some clubs and casinos and occasionally do some extortions, and by 'occasionally' I mean once. And the fact that it's shamelessly riddled with obnoxious foreshadowing doesn't help. The biggest problem, however, is that it's not even a gangster movie, which may explain why they don't really do much throughout the movie and I wouldn't have a problem with that if the movie weren't marketed as a gangster movie. Even the narration keeps beating you over the head with the whole 'gangster legend' thing. The film takes way too much time focusing on the relationship between Reginald Kray and his wife, Frances Shea, who, for some reason, narrates the whole movie. Instead of having a gangster movie with occasional glimpses of Reggie's and Frances' relationship, we have a rom-com with occasional glimpses of gangster businesses which are merely gangster related. But that may be just me. However, even if we ignore the fact that it's more of a rom-com than a gangster flick, we are still left with a story that drags out too much and bland, boring characters which serve no purpose. To sum up, I think that 'Legend' is a perfect example of a failed family-friendly gangster film. I don't know what Brian intended to do, but he failed and we were left with an unfinished hybrid of a movie with characters no one cares about and a tiresome, way-too- long and clumsily presented story which focuses on something that should have been kept as background.
Phoenix (2014)
Phoenix - A Great Metaphor.
Phoenix is a German drama set in the post war Berlin. The plot revolves around Nelly(Nina Hoss), who had been disfigured and underwent surgery, trying to reunite with her husband, Johnny(Ronald Zehrfeld), after being liberated from a concentration camp. Against her friend's advice, Lene(Nina Kunzendorf), who wants to take her to Palestine to keep her safe, Nelly keeps searching for Johnny until she finally finds him. At first, he doesn't recognize his lost wife, thinking that she's dead, and asks for Nelly's help to impersonate her in order to get money from the insurance company. Blinded by love, Nelly accepts Johnny's offer just so she could be able to spend more time with her husband.
While the plot may not seem very interesting, 'Phoenix' more than succeeded in accomplishing exactly what it wanted to accomplish. Even though some story elements and twists may not seem very plausible, the director himself, Christian Petzold, affirmed that the script should not be taken literally all the way. Phoenix is more about the little things such as the subtle emotions given by the actors, especially from Nina Hoss who pulls off one of the best female performances of the year.
The most impressive thing about 'Phoenix' is its obsession with the theme of re-birth, which is also suggested by the title. Nelly reunites with Johnny in front of a club called 'Phoenix', but this doesn't only suggest the re-birth of their relationship, but also Nelly's re- birth as a new person after being surgically reconstructed and after accepting to be Johnny's not-so-fake wife. Another theme employed by the movie is that of lying to yourself instead of accepting the truth. Nelly accepts being Johnny's fake wife, against her friend's advice, so she could be with him, refusing to admit that he had forgotten her, and Johnny refuses to realize that the woman is actually his concentration camp surviving wife because he doesn't want to believe that his wife is still alive.
By the last minutes of the movie, all of the events unfold along with a breath-taking sequence of Nelly performing Tony Bennett's 'Speak Low'; a sequence that leaves not only the audience, but also the other characters completely speechless.
It's also worth noticing that the whole concentration camp survivor status Nelly has is used only as a plot device which helps the movie go on, as opposed to a way of guilting the audience to feel sorry for the character.
Aside from the small technical details which shouldn't bother anyone who can realize why they were actually in the movie, 'Phoenix' is a masterfully crafted film with a great soundtrack, which really sets the mood for every scene, great performances, especially from Nina Hoss and above all, a literally stunning ending which is open to interpretation and which may very well be the best movie ending of the past few years.
That being said, I think it's safe to say that 'Phoenix' may be one of the best movies of this year and should be checked out by everyone.
The Gift (2015)
A new layer for the mystery thrillers.
I was skeptical at first about seeing this movie because, frankly, the trailer was bad. It's not easy to make a trailer for such a movie, but it's possible! Case and point - Gone Girl. The trailer for Gone Girl was freaking awesome. In the mystery genre it's hard to make a trailer without: A) Spoiling the mystery or B) Bore your audience to death. But Gone Girl pulled it off and it was maybe due to the fact that the trailer makes you believe something that's not actually true I.E. a fake spoiler and so it managed to trigger curiosity.
But enough about that, let's get down to the review!
The Gift is a mystery thriller, if you haven't figured it out yet, and at the same time the directorial debut of Joel Edgerton. And boy, what a debut this is. The plot revolves around a married couple - Simon, played by Jason Bateman and Robyn, played by Rebecca Hall- who move to California in order to start a new life. At some point they run into Gordo - played by Joel Edgerton - one of Simon's quote unquote school friends. And from that point he starts quote unquote terrorizing them by randomly showing up at their house and giving them gifts(wink wink). And I am not going to say anything else about the plot. The story may not seem that interesting, but it's so much more than that. Gordo's character is not only a character; he is also a representation of the past, in this case Simon's past, and through him the movie showcases the theme of a haunting, long forgotten past, which is also foreshadowed through dialogue, and it doesn't affect only Simon, but also Robyn and the people around them. This theme is present throughout the whole movie, and it seems that Simon's past is more damaging to Robyn, because Simon refuses to live in the past. Two other themes evolve from that of the long forgotten past and those two themes are paranoia and obsession. Paranoya can easily be identified through Robyn's dreams and everyday activities and obsession represents in this case fear. There is also a strong contrast between the two main characters:
Simon acts only for his own interest, while Robyn cares about others. Simon is rather carefree about Gordo, thinking that he can do him no harm, while, ironically, Robyn is the one who is afraid. And Simon is the one who tries to cover up the past, while Robyn is the one who's trying to uncover it. In contrast to the contrast, there is a symmetry between Simon and Gordo. I'm not talking about a physical, mental or social similarity, but rather a circumstantial one. Gordo, like Simon, is also haunted by his past, as we find out later in the movie, and they are both subjected to the influence of an idea, a story if you will, that sinks into your head and affects your life, whether it is true or not. As their conflict gets deeper and deeper, the movie starts to uncover more and more secrets. Gordo is the perfect impersonation of the damaging past, while Simon is the one who desperately tries to escape it after it catches up. But regardless of how hard we try to hide them, out secrets will eventually come out and haunt us for the rest of our life. You know what they say: You may be done with the past, but the past isn't done with you.
Another great thing is the cast. Joel Edgerton doesn't attempt to steal the show, him being the director, but instead he gives a subtle performance and builds a surprisingly complex character with hidden intentions. Come to think about it, most of the movie is hidden in one way or another, but as time passes, it unravels on a perfect pacing and builds up an immense amount of tension before delivering a mouth- dropping, but fairly overstaying-its-welcome finale. But the show stealer is definitely Jason Bateman. He gives his best performance to date and really manages to deliver emotion and also pain. Each of the 3 main characters is damaged in its own way: Gordo has given up and sunk in the past and accepted living with it, Simon tries to escape the past, but is devastated when it catches up and Robyn becomes paranoid.
All in all, it's a pretty solid movie, considering it's a directorial debut, and it's also easy to watch and enjoy. I recommend this movie to anyone who likes mystery - thrillers.