My generation

Michael Caine goes back in time to the 1960s when everything British was popular. It was called “The British invasion”, The Beatles and its “Beatlemania” being the earliest manifestation of the invasion. But My generation is about every aspect of the British counterculture. Caine interviews fashion model Twiggy and photographer David Bailey, film producer David Putnam, actress Joan Collins, singers like Lulu and Marianne Faithfull, The who’s Roger Daltrey, and Paul McCartney from The Beatles. The unusual decision was made to only play the audio of their conversations while on the screen we see their younger images from film archives. Lots of them, sometimes at too fast a psychedelic pace that will annoy some. But a soundtrack of great songs from the era will please many. Among the songs (I can’t get no) Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones and Strawberry fields forever by The Beatles with its brilliant arrangements. My generation is a fun documentary. For the lovers of British culture.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

 

My generation

 

Directed by:
David Batty

Screenplay by:
Dick Clement
Ian La Frenais

Documentary featuring Michael Caine

85 min.

Rated Parental Guidance

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1945

August 1945 in a small Hungarian village. It’s a special day for town clerk István (Péter Rudolf), who’s marrying his son, pharmacy owner Arpad (Bence Tasnádi). But Arpad’s drug-addicted mother, Anna (Eszter Nagy-Kálózy), is not happy about the marriage. Anna knows that the bride, peasant girl Kisrózsi (Dóra Sztarenki), is only marrying her son for the money, and that Kisrózsi is still having sex with her ex-fiancé, handsome hunk Jancsi (Tamás Szabó Kimmel). In the middle of all this drama and the wedding preparations, István gets news from the train station master of the arrival of two Orthodox Jews. The whole village goes into a state of paranoid panic. There were Jewish families before the war, but the Nazi send them to the concentration camps. Some of the villagers were quick to grab their properties and everything else they could. The pharmacy doesn’t really belong to István or his son Arpad, it belonged to one of the Jewish family. And now everyone is afraid that the two men, who arrived by train with two wooden boxes, are survivors there to claim what was stolen from their families. A defying István seems ready to do anything to keep the things he says are his. Village drunk Bandi (Jozsef Szarvas) feels so guilty he wants to give everything back. Not so with his wife (Ági Szirtes) who starts hiding things in the basement. This is a very good film with a seldom told story about collective guilt and shame. Ferenc Török doesn’t make the mistake of political correctness, because political correctness did not exist in 1945. So the general discourse is anti-semitic. Török keeps up the tension and the suspense, as he keeps the villagers, and us, guessing. It was shot in beautiful black-and-white, and the ensemble cast of unknown is excellent.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

1945

 

Directed by:
Ferenc Török

Screenplay by:
Gábor T. Szántó
Ferenc Török
Adapyed from The homecoming, a short story by Gabor T. Szanto

Starring:
Péter Rudolf
Bence Tasnádi
Tamás Szabó Kimmel
Dóra Sztarenki
Eszter Nagy-Kálózy
Ági Szirtes
József Szarvas

91 min.

Rated 14A.

In Hungarian and some Russian with English subtitles

The last suit (El Último Traje)

When ailing retired  tailor Abraham Bursztein (Miguel Ángel Solá) sees his children sell his house and make plans to place him in a retirement home, Abraham takes a plane to leave Buenos Aires and go to Poland. That’s where he was living during the Nazi occupation. He was Jewish, and young Abraham barely survive the horrors of the concentration camps. The only help he got was from his friend Piotrek, who literally saved his life. Now, Abraham wants to go back to Poland (although he refuses to say Poland or to hear the word) to deliver a suit to Piotrek, who also was a tailor. Abraham doesn’t even know if Piotrek is still alive. Abraham is an unlikable character. He seems to be fighting with everyone. There’s that Poland thing and he won’t take a train that travels through Germany. There is one daughter he has not talked to in years. He did not even know she had a daughter. But maybe that’s how we will all be in our old age. I hope not but maybe. Along the way he meets people trying to help him. Nice people. Some might enjoy this type of film. Apart for Solá who gives it a good try, I did not find the film interesting. It was not awful, but just not good enough.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

The last suit (El Último Traje)

 

Directed by:
Pablo Solarz

Screenplay by:
Pablo Solarz

Starring:
Miguel Ángel Solá
Ángela Molina
Natalia Verbeke

92 min.

Rated 14A.

In Spanish and other languages with English subtitles.

The children act

Judge Fiona Maye of the British High court of justice specializing in family law, has some very difficult cases to review. As the film opens, Fiona is writing a decision about conjoined twins. The hospital wants to separate the babies, claiming that both are going to die if they don’t. If separated, only one will survive. The parents refuse to separate, so it’s up to Judge Maye (Emma Thompson) to decide. She’s a total professional, emotionally detached from the cases that are brought to her. What’s important to her is the law. While preparing for her next case, Fiona’s husband Jack (Stanley Tucci) tells her that she’s working too much. He complains that they never have time to be together, they haven’t had sex in 11 months, so he announces he’s going to have an affair. She’s stunned and angry, of course. She cuts of their conversation, and Jack packs up and goes to have an affair. Her next case is about 17-year-old Adam who has leukemia. Adam (Fionn Whitehead) and his parents are Jehovah’s witnesses and they refuse the blood transfusion that would save the boy. The doctors want to save Adam’s life. After hearing the arguments from both side, Fiona makes the unusual decision to visit Adam at hospital. What makes The children act stand out from other similar British drama is Emma Thompson’s cutting performance. It is precise, cold, calculated, and eventually emotionally draining. When Thompson’s expressive cold stare meets Fionn Whitehead (as Adam), it’s a magical moment. Whitehead’s passion is somehow nothing out of the ordinary. It’s the later obsession that is compelling. Enough said. Thompson, Whitehead and Tucci are a dream cast. The soundtrack has traditional songs performed by Thompson. And a beautiful score by Stephen Warbeck has piano (Judge Maye plays the piano) and guitar (Adam is seen playing guitar). Cinematographer Andrew Dunn seemed to have taken a cue from Judge Maye. He uses a small sample of greys and blacks. Why? Maybe it’s because you won’t foresee the sudden emotions that will grab you. Just like Judge Fiona Maye. Maybe.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

The children act

 

Directed by:
Richard Eyre

Screenplay by:
Ian McEwan
Based on his own novel

Starring:
Emma Thompson
Fionn Whitehead
Stanley Tucci
Ben Chaplin

105 min.

Rated Parental Guidance

Juliet, Naked

Duncan claims to be Tucker Crowe’s No. 1 fan. He has set up a website about Crowe, with lengthy pretentious discussions analyzing every guitar plucks on Crowe’s only vinyl called “Juliet”, recorded thirty years ago. There are also many speculations on what happened to Tucker Crowe since then. Duncan Thomson (Chris O’Dowd) is British and lives in England with his girlfriend Annie Platt (Rose Byrne). For years Annie has silently endured Duncan’s obsession about Crowe. She keeps it in until one day she mistakenly opens a package addressed to Duncan. It’s a new demo CD from Crowe, another mainly acoustic affair called “Juliet, Naked”. She automatically knows that Duncan will be angry, not because she opened the package, but because it was from Crowe. Then she decides to listen to it. Duncan is livid. He calms down once he listens to it and falls in love with the new album. But Annie hates it. After reading Duncan’s piece on the new CD on his Crowe website, she decides to post her own dislike of “Juliet, Naked”, ripping apart Duncan ‘s corny article. Duncan is angry and he starts looking elsewhere for support. He finds it in the arm of another woman. As a result of her post, Annie receives an email supporting her views from a man who claims to be Tucker Crowe. Annie believes it is Crowe, and without telling Duncan she starts corresponding with him.. Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke) lives in the US with his ex-wife. Actually he lives in the shed behind the house so he can be near to his young son Jackson (Azhy Robertson). His life is kind of mess. Besides Jackson, Crowe has several children from other relations, some he almost never sees, others he has never met. Through emails, Annie and Tucker develop a friendship where they share everything. When Duncan tells Annie he has been cheating on her, she kicks him out. When Lizzie (Ayoola Smart), one of Tucker’s daughter is about to give birth, he plans to come to England to be near her. Perfect moment for Annie and Tucker to finally meet. But upon arriving in England, Tucker suddenly feels sick. From the first scene with Chris O’Dowd perfect (during the whole film really) at parodying Duncan’s fan website. Juliet, Naked is an excellent romantic comedy. It takes a very funny look at fandom (with Duncan it should be called “fandoom”). Snappy dialogues delivered by a near perfect cast (Hawke and Byrne have very good chemistry, and young Azhy Robertson is a great find). A really charming film.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

Juliet, Naked

 

Directed by:
Jesse Peretz

Screenplay by:
Evgenia Peretz
Jim Taylor
Tamara Jenkins
Based on the novel by Nick Hornby

Starring:
Rose Byrne
Ethan Hawke
Chris O’Dowd
Azhy Robertson
Ayoola Smart
Lily Brazier

105 min.

Rated 14A

Letter from Masanjia

It all started in 2012 when a woman, Julie Keith from Oregon, unwrapped the Halloween decorations she had purchased from Kmart (the styrofoam black tombstone), and found a letter hidden inside. The letter writer was describing the human rights abuse and torture he had endured at the Chinese Masanjia labor camp. After some calls to officials that heeded nothing, Julie turned to a Oregon newspaper. Cable news picked it up and it became a big news around the world. In China, as a direct result of Julie’s actions, the prisoners are released from Masanjia and there are calls to reform the forced labor system. The author of the letter, Sun Yi, is finally free after years at Masanjia. Yi is a Falun Gong follower and activist who was persecuted, like many other Falun Gong followers, by the Chinese government for years. Upon his released, Yi reconnects with his wife, Fu Ning. Because of the dangers involved, their relationship is tenuous and it’s heartbreaking. But Sun Yi goes back to his activism, planning to do a documentary denouncing the Falun Gong persecution. Director Leon Lee shows us part of what Yi has filmed. When Lee interviews Yi about his ordeal at the camp, Lee has chosen animation to illustrate it. It’s a great choice. I would have hated to see some corny reconstitution with actor. But Sun Yi’s problems are not over. He has to go underground, and may have to escape the country leaving his wife in China. Letter from Masanjia is such a moving and compelling documentary. People like Julie Keith, Sun Yi and his wife Fu Ning make this one of the year’s best tear-jerker.

Rémi-Serge Gratton

Letter from Masanjia

 

Directed by:
Leon Lee

Screenplay by:
Caylan Ford
Leon Lee

75 min.