L’Eclisse
Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1962 Italian drama has been given a
brand new re-release thanks to the BFI, introducing this work of the Italian
New Wave to another generation. Monica Vitti stars as Vittora, an adventurous
and newly-single young woman courting
Alain Delon’s Piero, a young stockbroker. Like a lot of the European New
Wave, the film is big on experimentation and tipping its hat to the American
cinema that inspired it (and in turn took inspiration from the New Wave through
the generation of Coppola, Scorsese and Spielberg) and is admirable as a
technical exercise but sometimes a little too opaque for some (including my
own) tastes. Still, the film has some definite moments of entertainment,
particularly it’s witty satirical swipe at the stockmarket.
Straight Outta Compton
Musical biopic about the rise and fall of the massively
influential gangsta rap group, N.W.A. Focusing mainly on the lives and works of
Dr Dre (Corey Hawkins), Eazy E (Jason Mitchell) and Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.),
the casting is remarkably on the money, particularly with O’Shea Jackson Jr;
Jackson Sr. being Mr. Cube, himself as well as Paul Giamatti playing the group’s
manager, a role not too far from his recent turn in Love & Mercy (2014) or
Rock Of Ages (2012) before that. The film is best served when it acts as a
social document through the gang violence, drug busts and the LA riots that
affected Compton and its surrounding Angelino neighbourhoods in late-80’s and
early-90’s, especially since it dismisses some vital and controversial parts of
the N.W.A’s own history. However, the film still manages to find a tone that is
both faithful to the group without getting too bogged down in the necessary nastiness
and cruelty of the world that music came from. At its absolute best, this is a
film that puts forth a valiant effort to prove the truth that rap is as equal
an art form as any other and that voices must not be silenced. (pick of the
week)
The Treatment
Tough Belgian detective story about a cop (Gert Van Rampleberg)
investigating a sex-related child murder whilst also struggling to come to
terms with his own childhood trauma.
Somehow even more bleak than the premise makes its sound, The Treatment’s sombering subject matter and
dim cinematography do get rather wearing. However, this is compensated by some
solid acting and a story that eventually becomes rather engaging. The film’s
lack of will to soften its message has its merits in brute honesty but its
flaws in its sheer unpleasantness but if you want a film that makes you feel
like you’ve been hit by a truck for two-and-a-half hours, it’s not too bad.
We Are Your Friends
The other big music-related movie release of the moment, We
Are Your Friends stars Zac Efron as an aspiring DJ trying to make it big in the
San Fernando Valley. With the film also being touted as the possible breakout
role for Emily Ratajkowski (known mostly for Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines music
video and Gone Girl (2014)) and with Efron in the lead, the entire film has
something of a vacuous image-obsessed annoyance to it, despite Efron’s talent
and doubtless charisma, with his supporting cast of friends being a largely
unlikable bunch with whom it seems very unclear whether the audience is
supposed to find them annoying. What music is offered is rather interesting and
the music’s dissection and use to help build the emotion are the film’s main
strengths, but the film’s weaknesses just barely manage to outweigh those.
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