Odeon: Until June 8
THE GREAT GATSBY
Baz Luhrmann’s much anticipated (and possibly much dreaded) adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald ‘unfilmable’ Jazz Age classic tale of impossible romance and the delusions of the American Dream has had mixed reviews. Luhrmann’s MTV aesthetic and eclectic stylistic excesses, especially when it comes to music, may have worked for Moulin Rouge and even Romeo + Juliet, but reservations need to be had for an adaptation of a revered novel that has no need of a breath of fresh air. Leonardo di Caprio probably has the mix of gravitas and boyishness that makes Jay Gatsby so special, but does Carey Mulligan have a voice that sounds like money and the delicate frivolous prettiness of her predecessor as Daisy Buchanan, Mia Farrow? And with a soundtrack featuring Jay Z, Amy Winehouse, Brian Ferry and George Gershwin amongst others, can this ever be more than a pastiche? ‘Luhrmann lays on a cinematic buffet of such sense-addling, smack-you-in-the-face-with-a-halibut brazenness that it takes around an hour before you notice the film is finger-food and nothing more’ (Daily Telegraph). ‘This is a movie whose adjective is unearned. It’s a flashy Gatsby, a sighing Gatsby, an angry Gatsby, a celeb Gatsby. But not a great one (The Guardian).
Odeon: June 11, 8.30pm
COTTON FOR MY SHROUD
A documentary investigating the on-going suicide crisis amongst farmers in India and the culpability of the multinational Monsanto and the Indian government, Cotton for my Shroud examines the control of seed supplies by multinational corporations, and the willingness of corrupt politicians to help in this second colonisation of India.
Odeon: June 12, 15, 16, 17
TRASHED
Jeremy Irons: ‘We’ve made this movie because there are so many people who feel strongly the urgent need for the problem of ‘waste’ and ‘sustainability’ to be addressed. There is an equally urgent need for the most imaginative and productive solutions to this troublesome subject to be understood and shared by as many communities as possible throughout the world. This is where movies can play such an important role, educating society, bringing “difficult” subjects to the broadest possible audience.’ Jeremy Irons narrates this incisive documentary that is by turns revolting, inspirational, depressing and uplifting. ‘Exposing inconvenient truths about waste’s impact on land, air and water, this eco-documentary tempers its science and politics with human dramas and a welcome gentle wit. But, despite offering some sensible solutions, the scale and style are too small-screen for mass conversion’ (Empire). If you think waste is someone else’s problem, think again.
Jeremy Irons himself will introduce the June 12 screening.
Odeon: 18–20 June
AFTER EARTH
Smith father Will and son Jaden star in the increasingly alarming M. Night Shyamalan’s science fiction adventure. Raige father Cypher and son Kitai crash land on Earth a thousand years after the cataclysm has forced humanity to flee, and have to contend with new arrivals on the planet if they are to return home. ‘Running, or stumbling, only 90 minutes, After Earth may lack the neck-swiveling awfulness of Shyamalan’s ‘The Last Airbender,’ but it quickly sinks in its logorrheic solemnity’ (Time). ‘Shyamalan is clearly a director-for-hire here, his disinterest palpable from first frame to last’ (Variety). ‘Jaden is not ready for his solo spotlight, and the film is the same action over and over. Another bad movie from Shyamalan.’ (San Francisco Chronicle).
Odeon: June 18, 9pm
VERTIGO
Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological thriller is regarded as a classic and replaced Citizen Kane as the best film of all time in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics’ poll. Faked deaths, ghostly possession, crippling fear, madness and passionate love: Vertigo has it all. ‘This strange, frustrating story of a haunted pervert will always evade definition… but all great art has within it some irreducible, inexplicable element, beyond its cleverness and craft. Such is the hold Vertigo has’ (The Guardian).
The British Institute
Lungarno Guicciardini, 9 tel. 055/267781
June 12, 8pm
OBSESSION
‘Obsession is Bernard Herrmann’s cinema requiem, a summation of his film skills and an affirmation of the human spirit. More than any other Herrmann film, Obsession’s power and narrative focus come almost entirely from the composer’s score, “a marvellously evocative choral work”, wrote critic Alexander Walker, “on which the story often floats wordlessly like a picture in a river’s reflection”’ (Smith). Since De Palma’s movie was unashamedly a homage to Hitchcock and directly paralleled Vertigo, it’s hardly surprising that Herrmann freely recycled large tracts of his Vertigo score (as well as others), but the entire score is much more than that. The transfer from San Francisco to a misty damp Florence is ingenious. Herrmann gave De Palma the original score and inscribed it ‘With thanks for the finest film of my musical life.’
June 19, 8 pm
TAXI DRIVER
‘I don’t know anything about taxi drivers’ was Herrmann’s response to Scorsese’s first approach but when he received the script for Taxi Driver ‘its rich, tragic character study proved irresistible… Following Herrmann’s death, the score was both overpraised (as Herrmann’s masterpiece) and unjustly dismissed by critics who considered the music too dynamic for a contemporary film. Although light years away from the beauty and romanticism of Obsession, Taxi Driver’s score was a similarly felt, intuitive experience for Herrmann, who was still obsessed with the darkest and saddest sides of human nature’ (Smith). Alienated Travis Bickle’s insane evil lonely obsession finds its ultimate expression in Herrmann’s scoring for melancholy saxophone in particular. In failing health, Herrmann worked on the jazz-inflected score through to its final edit and died shortly afterwards.
