THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
Odeon: February 14, 15, 16, 17, 20
An adaptation of the modern classic that explores rather more quirkily than usual the trauma of adolescence and the transition to adulthood. Fifteen-year-old Charlie is a cute, naïve outsider coping with first love, the recent suicide of his best friend and his own mental illness while struggling to find his comfort zone in a suitable peer group. Friendship and love make it all happen. ‘It offers the rare pleasure of an author directing his own book, and doing it well. No one who loves the book will complain about the movie, and especially not about its near-ideal casting’ (Roger Ebert). ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower hurts. It hurts because it depicts the loneliness, anxiety and all-out quivering mess of adolescence’ (San Francisco Chronicle). ‘A risible, somewhat revolting piece of pop martyrdom, made for and isolated to the damaged middle class’ (Slant Magazine).
LIFE OF PI
Odeon: February 18, 19
Based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, Ang Lee’s movie is a magical adventure story focusing on Pi Patel, the precocious son of a Pondicherry zookeeper who finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The convincing and sensorily satisfying state-of-the-art CGI scores more than spiritual goo and parabolic ingenuity. ‘Pi is a giant leap forward, outward and upward in expanding the resources of the evolving medium of movies. Magical realism was rarely so magical and never before so real’ (Time). ‘A riot of saturated colour and delirious imagination, Ang Lee’s adap radiates spirituality. But it’s also a simple, thrilling and gently uplifting tale of a boy, a boat and a tiger. Take the plunge’ (Total Film). ‘The movie invites you to believe in all kinds of marvelous things, but it also may cause you to doubt what you see with your own eyes-or even to wonder if, in the end, you have seen anything at all’ (New York Times).
PROMISED LAND
Odeon: February 21–24
A salesman for a natural-gas company experiences life-changing events after arriving in a small town where his corporation wants to tap into the available resources. The fracking movie: a low-key take on a high-key issue, it generates little heat and not much light and is weighed down by clichés and its environmentalist agenda. Most un-Van Santish. ‘Urgent, heartfelt, and not-quite-as-predictable-as-you-think environmental rabble-rouser’ (Entertainment Weekly). ‘A measured, careful movie that doesn’t raise its voice and make broad claims, but quietly expresses concerns’ (San Francisco Chronicle). ‘By manipulating their story to advance the cynical notion that you really can’t trust anyone, the filmmakers inadvertently beg the question of why their own motives should be so above suspicion’ (Variety).
ARGO
Odeon: February 25
Based on real events, Ben Affleck’s dramatic thriller chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, focusing on the little-known role that the CIA and Hollywood played-information that was not declassified until many years after the event. Gripping and immaculate. ‘A superbly crafted and darkly funny real-life political thriller, with pitch-perfect performances’ (USA Today). ‘The results are nothing less than sensational’ (Wall Street Journal). ‘Argo is a triumph. It has tension, sincerity, mystery, artistic responsibility, entertainment value, technical expertise, a narrative arc and a thrilling respect for the tradition of how to tell a story with minimum frills and maximum impact. It’s a great footnote to history, one of the best films of 2012 and a sure-fire contender on Oscar night’ (New York Observer).
LES MISÉRABLES
Odeon: February 26
A stirring, ambitious but cinematically uneven adaptation of the world’s favourite stage musical from the director of The King’s Speech. Set in early nineteenth-century France, Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a timeless story of broken dreams, unrequited love, passion, sacrifice, vengeance and redemption. Formerprisoner Jean Valjean is hunted for decades by the ruthless gaoler Javert after agreeing to care for factory worker Fantine’s young daughter Cosette. Unusually for movie musicals, the actors sing their own voices recorded live on set-a feat in itself. ‘Besides being a feast for the eyes and ears, Les Misérables overflows with humor, heartbreak, rousing action and ravishing romance. Damn the imperfections, it’s perfectly marvelous’ (Rolling Stone). ‘This “Les Mis” does make you feel, intensely and sometimes thrillingly, by honoring the emotional core of its source material’ (Wall Street Journal). ‘Sensitive souls in search of wrenching emotion can be guaranteed their Kleenex moments; you will get wet. But … you will not be cinematically edified. This is a bad movie’ (Time)
THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS
Odeon: February 28, 8:15pm
A chorus of voices from six continents calls for systemic economic change. This documentary describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposite directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance. Localization is what it’s all about. ‘The Economics of Happiness will leave many people yearning for more information about the real facts of the situation … By playing to the ignorance of many concerning economic issues (ignorance not to be confused with stupidity here) the film leaves the reasonable viewer with a taste that is a little more political and a little less altruistic’ (Brad Cookson). A passionate, if one-sided, argument for change.
TRASHED
Odeon: February 28, 9:30pm
In this documentary Jeremy Irons sets out to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem, as he travels around the world to beautiful destinations tainted by pollution. This is a meticulous investigative journey that takes Irons (and us) from skepticism to sorrow and from horror to hope. ‘This necessary infotainment pill boasts a highly effective sugar-coating thanks to the narration and on-camera presence of moonlighting co-producer Jeremy Irons’ (Hollywood Reporter).
FLIGHT
Fulgor: February 14–20
A rather banal story of recklessness and addiction that despite the brilliantly played anti-heroic role of the alcoholic airline pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) never really takes off. Lumpy and rather implausible in many parts. Seatbelts necessary only for the first half hour; bland in-flight entertainment after that. ‘This absorbing drama provides Denzel Washington with one of his meatiest, most complex roles, and he flies with it’ (Hollywood Reporter). ‘We get tired of watching Whip fail, and we’re caught between dismayed pity and a longing to see him punished. Only a great actor could have pulled off this balancing act’ (The New Yorker). ‘Even if you remove the questionable quasi-religious touches, Flight doesn’t quite soar past its narrative limitations. There’s plenty of virtuosity to go around here-just precious little transcendence'(Time Out New York).
ZERO DARK THIRTY
Fulgor: February 21–27
The story of the 10-year hunt and termination with extreme prejudice of America’s public enemy number one, Osama bin Laden. Jessica Chastain excels as the agent on a mission. Lacks the finesse and tension of Bigelow’s previous winner, The Hurt Locker, but its treatment of torture has raised hackles in the US establishment (as if they didn’t know!). ‘By and large, Zero Dark Thirty dispenses with sentimentality and speculation, portraying the final mission not with triumphalist zeal or rank emotionalism but with a reserved, even mournful sense of ambivalence’ (Washington Post). ‘Telling a nearly three-hour story with an ending everyone knows, Bigelow and Boal have managed to craft one of the most intense and intellectually challenging films of the year’ (Guardian). ‘By showing scenes of torture without taking any kind of moral (as opposed to tactical) stand on what we are seeing, Bigelow has made an amoral movie-which is, I would argue, an unconscionable approach to this material’ (Christian Science Monitor).
TOSCA
The British Institute:February 20, 8pm
(1986; filmed theatrical performance)
Hildegard Behrens, Placido Domingo, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Metropolitan Opera
‘As the curtain rises on the Met’s 1985 production of Tosca, the audience cheers enthusiastically because Zeffirelli’s attention to detail and design savvy have brought Rome to the Lincoln Center stage. The towering columns, arches, metres-high windows at the ready for his heavenly apricot light are a spectacular recreation and convincing testament to the notion that religion is bigger than all of us. Yet even with its grandeur, the master director has collaborated brilliantly with Kirk Browning, providing viewers with many insights into Puccini’s compact drama that those in the hall could never see as clearly, if at all'(James Wegg Review).
OTELLO
The British Institute:February 20, 8pm
(1986; feature film)
Plácido Domingo, Katia Ricciarelli, Lorin Maazel, Teatro alla Scala
Franco Zeffirelli’s Otello is a magnificent study of blackness and light. Verdi’s darkest opera has been brought to the screen by the master of gesture and symbolism in a manner that puts its musical components in second place rather than their more usual lead when performed in the acoustically rich but visually confining opera houses. As both designer and director, Zeffirelli ensures that his ritornello image, the majestic lion, opens both acts, serves as door-handle match to Iago’s treachery and silently looks down on the dead, embracing lovers in the final frames, where Desdemona assumes the shape of Jesus on the cross even as Otello finds that the only battle he couldn’t win was the one that raged within his soul’ (James Wegg Review).
Info and bookings:
Odeon cinema: www.odeonfirenze.com
Fulgor: www.planetcinema.it
British Institute: www.britishinstitute.it
