THE MASTER
ODEON: January 17
P. T. Anderson’s masterly
movie may or may not be about Scientology, but its vision of a charismatic new
post-World War II religion and the allure and then disillusion in the interplay
between ambitious leader and vulnerable follower is profound and gripping.
‘With potent performers and poetic visuals, Anderson has made the boldest
American picture of the year. Its strangeness can be hard to process, but this
is a shattering study of the impossibility of recovering the past’ (Total
Film). ‘An often brilliant ’50s-throwback character drama that never feels
nostalgic, with terrific central performances and a luminous, unforgettable
visual beauty’ (Empire). ‘Fabulously well-acted and crafted, but when I reach
for it, my hand closes on air. It has rich material and isn’t clear what it
thinks about it. It has two performances of Oscar caliber, but do they
connect?’ (Roger Ebert).
HYDE PARK ON HUDSON
ODEON: January 18, 19, 20
The story of the complicated
domestic life of President Franklin D Roosevelt, his wife Eleanor and his
various mistresses on the occasion of the brief Royal Visit of King George VI
and Queen Elizabeth to upstate New York in the turbulent year of 1939. ‘In
beauty, tone, technical achievement and cinematic artistry on every level, Hyde
Park on Hudson is a movie unto itself-funny, believable, historic and hugely
entertaining’ (New York Observer). ‘This hugely entertaining movie is about the
wisdom and-with trenchant wit and sympathy-the human flaws in one of America’s
most idealized heads of state’ (NPR). Roosevelt was one of the towering figures
of the 20th century, but he and his accomplishments scarcely register in this
amorphous, bafflingly aimless movie (New York Times). ‘Roger Michell’s movie
is, pretty consistently, dreadful’ (Time).
THE COMPANY YOU KEEP
ODEON: January 21, 22, 23
Robert Redford’s unabashedly
heartfelt but competent tribute to 1960s idealism. A clear-eyed drama about a
former Weather Underground radical forced to reconcile with the past. What
determined reporting can do when the truth is required. ‘The Company You Keep…
in its stolid, old-fashioned way… satisfies an appetite, especially among
mature auds, for dialogue and character-driven drama that gets into issues
without getting too bogged down in verbiage’ (Variety). ‘Robert Redford does
his most compelling work in some time as both actor and director in a tense yet
admirably restrained thriller … this gripping drama provides an absorbing
reflection on the courage and cost of dissent’ (Hollywood Reporter).
QUARTET
ODEON: January 24, 26, 27, 30,
31, 25
Set in a home for retired
opera singers, Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut tells the story of a quartet
of singers who every year on October 10 celebrate Verdi” birthday with a
concert. ‘Quartet is very much a performance piece, which plays to Hoffman’s
strength-as an actor he knows when to allow this excellent ensemble breathing
room and when to tighten the belt. The script has some nice turns of phrase and
a lot of sentiment … At the end of the day “Quartet” is about final acts and in
that it seems a film with modest aspirations-no big bang here, just a troupe of
old friends trying to put on the best show they can’ (Los Angeles Times).
‘Sentimental and pandering’ (Village Voice). ‘The curtain can’t come down fast
enough’ (Time Out New York).
CLOUD ATLAS
ODEON: January 28, 29
Based on the best-selling
novel by David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences
of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the
future. ‘Its too-muchness is also the source of its power; I was absolutely
never bored, and felt surprised when the movie ended. It’s an amazing,
baffling, thrilling and (for many, it would appear) irritating experience, and
for my money the most beautiful and distinctive big-screen vision of the year’
(Salon). ‘It fascinates in the moment. It’s getting from one moment to the next
that is tricky. Surely this is one of the most ambitious films ever made’
(Roger Ebert). ‘Most viewers are likely to be impressed more by the magnitude
of the effort than the magnificence of the effect. Cloud Atlas is a Terry
Gilliam movie without the kinks, a Wong Kar-wai film without the smoky
dreamscape, a time-and-Space Oddity that remains frustratingly earthbound’
(Time).
DJANGO UNCHAINED
FULGOR: January 17 to 30
Quentin Tarantino’s movie is
about a slave whose brutal history with his former owners brings him together
with a righteous bounty hunter. Only Django can lead him to his bounty, but
this can only happen unpredictably and violently. Spaghetti splatter via Sergio Corbucci and Sergio Leone as only Tarantino
can mash. ‘It’s as unwholesome,
deplorable and delicious as a forbidden cigarette’ (The Guardian). ‘[B]loody
hilarious (and hilariously bloody) … (Variety). ‘It is a tribute to the
spaghetti Western, cooked al dente, then cooked a while more, and finally
sauced to death’ (New Yorker). ‘Wildly extravagant, ferociously violent,
ludicrously lurid and outrageously entertaining, yet also, remarkably, very
much about the pernicious lunacy of racism and, yes, slavery’s singular
horrors’ (Wall Street Journal). It manages to be risibly cartoonish and acutely
perspicacious at the same time. Unmissable.
ROMEO AND JULIET
BRITISH INSTITUTE: January 23, 8pm
A conventional, safe
adaptation of Shakespeare, which sacrifices the poetry for visual effects,
sincerely attempts to capture the tragedy of the star-cross’d lovers, and
celebrates youth and vitality, passion and energy while condemning ‘wisdom,’
maturity and the bad habits of the past. ‘Zeffirelli’s mod adaptation of Romeo
and Juliet isn’t one of the very slim handful of masterfully filmed Shakespeare
plays … It is successful in one very important respect, the handling of the
hot-headed youth of the feuding Verona families, and the street brawling scenes
are admirable. The rot sets in with Zeffirelli’s treatment of the ‘stern’
parents, the sentimentality of his Irish friar (O’Shea) and Cockney nurse
(Heywood), and the tragic denouement. Mostly it remains enjoyable for its
colour and visual flair. Danilo Donati’s costumes are, as usual, breathtaking’
(Time Out).
BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON
BRITISH INSTITUTE: January 30, 8pm
The Zeffirelli film nobody
liked. ‘Zeffirelli has made a big, absurd doodad, a movie that confuses
simplicity with simple-mindedness and that makes saintliness look like an
extreme form of Asian flu’ (New York Times). ‘A big, limp Valentine of a
movie, filled with an excess of sweetness and light. What a shame’ (Roger
Ebert). ‘A beautiful looking film that might have still worked if the director
had simply followed the teachings of his protagonist and shown less ostentation
and earnestness, more naturalism and simplicity, and more appreciation than
exploitation’ (Talking Pictures). ‘Hello flowers, hello sky: the life of St
Francis of Assisi, viewed as a wimpy hippy by the unspeakably daft Zeffirelli,
wandering through soft focus landscapes accompanied by the strains of Donovan.
Avoid at all costs’ (Time Out). Can it be that bad?
