Movie Review – Suburbicon

George Clooney and the Coen Brothers are rockin’ the suburbs in this dark and twisted comedy.

⭐ ⭐
Rhys Graeme-Drury

From prim and proper lawns to white picket fences and pastel pinafores, George Clooney’s Suburbicon is drenched in a sugary coating of classic Americana. Like a surreal waking nightmare akin to Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, this original script penned by Joel and Ethan Coen strips back its glossy sheen to reveal a grisly underbelly of crime, prejudice and deception with wildly mixed results.

Matt Damon plays Gardner, a meek middle management man whose life is thrown into chaos when two burglars break into his sleepy suburban home. His wife (Julianne Moore) and son (Noah Jupe) are caught in the middle of the melee. Meanwhile, next-door, new arrivals in the neighbourhood are ruffling some local feathers and perceived as a threat to the idyllic community.

The glossy cinematography and eccentric 1950s visual design is at least nice to look at in a heightened, hyperreal sense; a cute opening which acts as an advert for the homogenised community sets the tone before the cheeky kinkiness of Damon and Moore’s relationship reveals the true nature of this repressed fantasy. Suburbicon at least succeeds in accurately capturing its setting; it’s the haphazard narrative which causes this star-studded affair to misfire, as it struggles to effectively populate the film with something for audiences to latch onto.

With two vastly different ideas smashed into one, it should come as no surprise that Clooney’s sixth film as director is a mess. On the one side you have a darkly humorous take on the home invasion genre with the Coen Brothers lending their prodigious talent to the script; on the other you have Clooney and frequent collaborator Grant Heslov exploring race relations in 1950s America, also with a surreal and satirical spin.

While both are interesting ideas in their own right, they don’t mesh very well when stacked next to one another. Tonally, Suburbicon is just all over the shop. Is it a serious recount of true events that deals with racism or a twisted murder mystery dripping with sticky murders and chain-smoking gangsters? Pick a lane, Clooney.

The former is certainly apt given the identity crisis currently unfolding across America (Clooney makes a point to have his antagonists unfurl a Confederate flag, hammering home his stance on the matter) and the latter is a gleeful noir that feels at home alongside other Coen Brothers joints like Fargo and Burn After Reading. On their own, it would work; mixed together, it never gels.

It doesn’t help that none of the characters save for one or two minor players are actually likeable; Damon plays a dickbag who deserves all the pain and suffering he gets while Moore is lumped with an odd dual role that dissolves into a quietly psychotic and hysterical housewife. Oscar Isaac’s fleeting contribution adds a certain spark to proceedings, thickening the plot and bringing some crucial laughs. Other than that, it’s slim pickings.

Without a coherent through-line to tie it together, Suburbicon fails to deliver on its initial promise. The dark comedy is hit and miss, the disjointed to and fro of the screenplay never settles on a tone and its talented cast – save for Isaac – is sleepwalking through the swirl of half-baked ideas. Definitely one to skip.

Suburbicon is available in Australian cinemas from October 26 

Image courtesy of Road Show Films 2017

 

 

 

Today’s Top Cinematographers

Corey Hogan

They say a picture says a thousand words – so a moving picture must have a hell of a lot to say. Cinematography is often one of the aspects of filmmaking to slip past your average movie-goer. That’s not to say it goes unnoticed; it’s just that most people are simply unaware of the spell being cast upon their eyes by the director of photography.

The practice of envisioning, framing, lighting and staging a shot is an incredibly monumental task. We’re spoilt with the sheer magnitude of beautiful looking films produced today, and with new technology constantly introduced, the sky truly is the limit. There’s a massive selection of genius cinematographers, but here are five of the best currently working behind the camera.

Robert Elswit 

Good Night, and Good Luck

There Will Be Blood

Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Perhaps the most important trait to have as a director of photography is the ability to adapt with ease to whatever might need to be visualised. Robert Elswit has that locked down, effortlessly gliding from low budget independent comedies to high profile action extravaganzas. He’s known for collaborating well ahead of production with the film designers to nail down the look of a film, and for giving actors plenty of space and time in a shot in case improvisation is required.

Since the 80’s Elswit has worked with a huge variety of directors, which has no doubt led to his resourceful manner. His slick, shiny gloss is easily spottable in spy flicks Tomorrow Never Dies, Salt and The Bourne Legacy, and his creative eye for places to stick a camera has stunningly captured the insane stunts undertaken by Tom Cruise in the two most recent Mission: Impossible films. That same polish transcends to thrillers like The Town and Nightcrawler, and helped achieve the gorgeous black and white contrasts of George Clooney’s Good Night and Good Luck. But his best work is in his collaborations with the brilliant Paul Thomas Anderson, of whose entire filmography (save The Master) he’s served as cinematographer for. Clearly it’s here he’s learnt most of his lessons; the masterful tracking shots and perfectly symmetrical imagery are now an Anderson staple, looking no better than in Elswit’s Oscar-winning There Will Be Blood. Elswit is next heading into the Indonesian jungle for the Matthew McConaughey adventure Gold.

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Robert Richardson 

Inglorious Basterds

The Doors

Hugo

There might not be anyone alive who captures history quite like Robert Richardson, no matter how twisted or surreal his collaborating director is spinning it. Richardson’s work could be considered experimental, especially given the sheer photographic range and progression he’s shown since his early work in the mid-80’s, but it’s his daringly bold risks that have earned him three Academy Awards and allowed him to frequently collaborate with some of the finest auteurs in the business – and amazingly, keep his own voice while doing so.

Richardson carved a name for himself alongside Oliver Stone in his very best years, envisaging the thick green jungles of Vietnam for Platoon and the steely courtrooms of JFK, as well as accentuating the psychedelic music trip of The Doors and the hyperkinetic brutality of Natural Born Killers. His shift from gritty realism to cartoonish ultraviolence came with his pairing with Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill. He is responsible for the significantly different look in Tarantino’s new films compared to his old ones – look no further than Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained. And his period pieces with Martin Scorsese are possibly Richardson’s most avant-garde, but there are no historical epics out there that look quite like The Aviator or Hugo.

Richardson is the perfect fusion of old and new; an innovator of the way we view history. Forever unpredictable, it’s exciting to think of what he can still bring to the medium – he just resurrected the forgotten 70mm Ultra Panavision for The Hateful Eight, and will return to the 1920’s with Ben Affleck next year for Live by Night.

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Claudio Miranda

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Life of Pi

Tron

Unlike the other directors of photography on this list, Chilean cinematographer Claudio Miranda doesn’t have a large and prolific filmography dating back a few decades behind him – but that’s what is all the more impressive about his work. While it takes most DoP’s a dozen or so films to hone their skill, Miranda has completely come into his own in a mere handful of projects, proving himself a master of seamless CGI environments and scooping up a slew of awards – including an Oscar – by only his fourth feature.

Starting as a gaffer for David Fincher on Se7en, The Game and Fight Club, he made history when Fincher promoted him to cinematographer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; nominated for the first Oscar-eligible feature to be filmed entirely digitally. Since then his specialty has become realising computer-generated worlds. While Joseph Kosinski’s films have lacked narrative substance, both Tron: Legacy and Oblivion are absolutely breathtaking domains to be lost in. But his masterpiece is easily Ang Lee’s visionary Life of Pi. Despite being filmed in a simple shallow pool against a blue screen, Miranda’s vision showcased a most beautiful survival-at-sea tale in all its horror and wonder, and proved once and for all that it is possible to feel strong emotion towards something made entirely by computer.

He’s yet to match the pure imaginative quality of his award winning effort, but as long as his digital designs continue to drop jaws, the future is bright for Miranda. Following last year’s Tomorrowland, his keen eye will be seen again with Kosinski for something a little different – the upcoming Granite Mountain, based on the true tale of the men who fought the Yarnell Hill Fire.

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Roger Deakins

The Assassination of Jesse James

Prisoners

Skyfall

British-born Roger Deakins is perhaps the best known professional cinematographer today, but surprisingly he’s still yet to be awarded an Oscar for his colossal impact – despite a whopping thirteen nominations, including two in one year for the gorgeous post-modern Westerns No Country for Old Men and The Assassination of Jesse James.  This could simply boil down to bad luck; he’s often overshadowed by a more buzzed-about picture, particularly rivalled in recent years by the man of the moment Emmanuel Lubezki.

Deakins’ range spreads across an array of different genres, but his name alone immediately conjures up masterful images of shadowy figures against desolate, dangerous landscapes, as evidenced in these shots. He’s the Coen Brothers go-to guy, having worked with them twelve times. He’s also a regular for Sam Mendes, with whom he delivered by far the best-looking Bond film Skyfall, and Denis Villeneuve, whose harrowing thrillers Prisoners and Sicario might not have had quite the same edge if not for his eye for green-and-grey tinted dread. Not content with sticking to live-action however, he’s also served as visual consultant on some of the most sumptuous animated features to grace the screen, including WALL-E, Rango and both How to Train Your Dragon movies.

Up next he’ll be stretching his talents to a new realm again with Villeneuve’s highly anticipated Blade Runner sequel; it’s simply mouth-watering to think of the potential Deakins has in sci-fi. And surely it’s only a matter of time until his four decades of influence on the industry are given the recognition warranted by the Academy.

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Emmanuel Lubezki

Gravity

Tree of Life

The Revenant

Nicknamed “Chivo” by his peers, Emmanuel Lubezki now holds the record of earning three Academy Awards back to back, and for once it’s safe to say that these are well deserved. Hailed as a true innovator of the medium, Lubezki is acclaimed for his extensive and unbroken tracking shots.

Chivo has worked with some of the best in his career – Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow), Michael Mann (Ali) and the Coen Brothers (Burn After Reading) – but his best work by far has come through his regular collaborators, Terrence Malick, and fellow Mexicans Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu. With Malick, he’s visualised the dream-like philosophical ponderings of To the Wonder and Knight of Cups, and the awe-inspiring conceptualisation of the beginnings and meaning of existence in The Tree of Life. He’s envisaged most of Cuarón’s films, most impressively his genius sci-fi thrillers – the criminally underseen Children of Men and the exhilarating 3D space rollercoaster Gravity. And most recently he’s teamed up with Iñárritu, delivering the seemingly uninterrupted single take of Birdman and possibly the most devastatingly beautiful reflection of nature ever seen in film with The Revenant.

The films Chivo selects are always divisive in opinion (and what art isn’t?), but there’s simply no denying the effectively orgasmic imagery he’s gifted the world of film. Next he reteams with Malick for Weightless, a tale of obsession and betrayal against the music scene in Texas.

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Images courtesy of Dendy Films, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Universal Pictures,  Hoyts Fox Columbia Tristar Films, Roadshow Films, Twentieth Century Fox, Guo Films Distribution, Sony Pictures & Icon Film Distribution

Movie Review – Hail, Caesar!

Hail, Caesar! is a lively homage to good ol’ Hollywood from two of cinema’s greatest writer/directors, Joel and Ethan Coen.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ½
Tom Munday

In 1951, Capitol Pictures head of production, and real-life figure, Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the studio’s ‘fixer’, keeping movie stars and director’s regrettable actions out of the spotlight. His life shifts from busy to chaotic after A-lister Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped from the set of blockbuster historical-epic Hail, Caesar! Facing pressure from the studio, frustrated filmmakers, and spoiled actors, Mannix has a few tricks up his sleeve to protect everyone’s interests.

Hail, Caesar! is the latest creation from two of Hollywood’s most talented and distinctive producer/writer/directors. Since their triumphant, film-festival favourite crime-thriller Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen have turned heads for over 20 years with comedies, thrillers, remakes and westerns. The dedication to their craft is unparalleled; the duo has unearthed strange concepts and executed them with both style and substance. This comedy-caper fits tightly between the surreal thrills of The Big Lebowski and dramedy quarrels of Inside Llewyn Davis.

The Coen Brothers’ affection for Twentieth Century cinema is lathered onto every frame. Dabbling in a variety of genres and flourishes, the Coen’s latest is a brainstorming session writ large. Along with Mannix’s central, neo-noir plot-thread, the movie’s narrative splits off into several miniscule sub-plots and set pieces. The Coens revel in self-indulgence, convoluting a unique vision with an over-ambitious reach. Despite quality ingredients, the story never adds up to the sum of its parts.

Hail, Caesar! thrives whenever Mannix and his go-getter attitude are on screen. Mannix is a fascinating detective figure keeping the narrative in check (somewhat). Like every movie-within-a-movie flick, Hail, Caesar! comments on today’s ever-expanding, controversial studio system. Although its depiction of screenwriters and sexism remain resonant, its commentary on communism and the dividing line between art and industry are clumsily thrown in.

The performances are all captivating, with Brolin a charming screen presence throughout. Balancing comedy and drama, Brolin’s leading man goes toe-to-toe with everyone in the impressive cast that features Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton and Coen bros staple Frances McDormand. Meanwhile, Clooney brings his self-deprecating, slapstick persona back from Intolerable Cruelty and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Hail, Caesar! resembles the Coen Brothers on auto-pilot, fitting a cast of regulars into an over-the-top, pedantic homage to their industry. If anything, it proves cinematographer Roger Deakins is contemporary cinema’s most impressive workhorse.

Hail, Caesar! is available in Australian cinemas from February 25th

Image (c) Universal Pictures 2016

Movie Review – Bridge of Spies

After talking his way out of getting shot by Somali pirates, Tom Hanks now tackles the Russian and United States governments in Bridge of Spies.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Zachary Cruz-Tan

In Bridge Of Spies, Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Tom Hanks plays James Donovan, an insurance lawyer empowered by the United States constitution, with a very healthy moral compass. The year is 1957. The period is the Cold War. The word around the streets is paranoia. The United States and the Soviet Union have engaged in a battle of silent attrition in a manner that would have made Hitchcock drool with anticipation.

In the midst of all this, a Russian spy is captured by the FBI, and thrust into Donovan’s care for a fair trial. Why Donovan? We are not so sure. It has something to do with Donovan being very good at what he does, which seems to mainly involve debating with hard-nosed CIA agents about the value of human life – he does very little lawyering in this movie, and indeed, the reason for his appointment is never explicitly clarified. Nevertheless, Donovan suggests using the spy, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), as leverage, in case an American should require rescuing from across the Atlantic.

And that’s where I leave the plot, for it appears simple and straightforward. If I were to explain any further, you’d find yourself gradually sinking into a quagmire of unwanted subplots and haphazardly strewn-together character developments.

Spielberg has a way of turning human tragedy into miraculous triumph. He paints very broad heroes on narrow, focused canvases. Schindler’s List (1993) carefully marked the lowest point for the Nazi empire, but gave birth to one of its greatest crusaders. His A.I. (2001) chartered the human desires of an android as it journeyed slowly towards love and understanding. His Munich (2005) questioned what it meant to be a nationalist, and what the cost was of seeking bloody revenge. This makes it all the more unusual that Bridge Of Spies seems to lose all sense of humanity, despite concentrating much effort on its humans.

This has a lot to do with the screenplay; written by Matt Charman and the Coen brothers, it comes across as though three historians have been bound at the wrists and ankles by the Historical Accuracy In Film Adaptations committee. They almost seem obliged to include the most trivial details in order to keep their story on a path straight and true.

There are also strange tonal shifts. The first third plays out with the dramatic tension of To Kill A Mockingbird (1962). Then it descends into espionage and danger. There is a standalone CGI showcase as a spy plane spirals down through the clouds to its death, and then the rest of the movie unfolds over smoky hotel rooms and interminable table conferences, with a hackneyed conclusion.

Yes, I understand that true events must be revered, but sometimes it takes less to tell more. There is still a lot to appreciate about Bridge Of Spies; it’s a powerful parable of American resilience. Hanks is also sturdy and reliable as the driven lawyer, but the film seems bloated with a few too many heavy scenes. With a trim here and a snip there, Spielberg, who usually masters material like this, would have had something great.

Bridge of Spies is available in Australian cinemas from October 22nd

Images courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Movie Review – Slow West

A lonely boy looking for his lost love discovers a million ways to die in the West with the help of a local drifter in this ambient, absurdist and Sundance-topping cowboy caper. Yee-haw!

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Review by Corey Hogan

2015 is shaping up to be the year of the phenomenal directorial debut; already we have a number of names to jot down following Alex Garland’s slick Ex Machina, James Kent’s emotional Testament of Youth, and Ariel Kleiman’s chilling Partisan, among others. A new generation of intelligent, wickedly creative filmmakers have emerged. Add to that list Brit John Maclean, subverting the Western genre with his simple, yet enormously engrossing first feature, Slow West.

Aussie Kodi Smit-McPhee is Jay Cavendish, a timid 16-year-old Scottish boy who arrives in the 19^th century American frontier. Travelling solo across the Wild West, Jay searches for the love of his life Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius), an older girl with whom he was once close friends, but were separated upon her family’s departure to colonial America. Jay crosses paths with a mysterious drifter named Silas (Michael Fassbender) in the forests of Colorado; a gruff man of few words, but believing in his quest for romance, Silas accompanies Jay on his journey and teaches him, much to his disdain, that a violent mindset is required to survive in the West. What Silas doesn’t tell him is that Rose is wanted dead or alive for a $2000 reward, and that Jay is being followed the sinister Payne (Ben Mendelsohn) and his gang of bounty hunters, leading them directly to her…

True to its title, Slow West moves at a fairly leisurely pace, but under Maclean’s competent direction this serves the story well, and never causes audience attention to waver. It’s hard to believe a film that so effortlessly mixes sensitive coming-of-age drama and emotion with such weirdly wonderful characters, farcical black humour and exhilarating bursts of brutality, has come from a first-time director; it expels an air of confidence and maturity rarely seen in even some of the most seasoned filmmakers’ work. Maclean’s influences are clear but noteworthy; the essence of the Coen Brothers’ foreboding tone and savage tension flows throughout, bringing to mind No Country for Old Men and (most obviously) True Grit. Quiet, unnerving scenes are punctuated with Tarantino-esque flashes of extreme violence, and Maclean and cinematographer Robbie Ryan even seem to have adopted Wes Anderson’s square framing and symmetrical shot compositions; it feels simultaneously post-modern and respectfully vintage.

The focus for the most part is the relationship between mismatched oddballs Jay and Silas. Their companionship blossoms into something resembling a father-son dynamic as the plot progresses, albeit a quirky and highly unorthodox one. Fassbender serves as the core of the film; his strong, silent bronco does not stand out, but his presence is felt in every scene, as Jay adapts to the bloody consternation of the West through Silas’ wisdom. Jay himself is clumsy, frantic and far from his comfort zone, but at once wholly sympathetic, and almost poetically tragic. Scenes are juxtaposed with flashbacks to his former life in Scotland, where it becomes clear he is blinded by love; Rose evidently does not reciprocate his feelings (he’s like a younger brother in her eyes), foreshadowing the calamitous and ironic events to come. Smit-McPhee proves himself a capable lead, and a compelling window of naivety into this harsh terrain; following The Road and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes he may yet become the iconic uncouth teen of the dangerous territory.

The duo traverse a world of unexpected and intriguing characters; in fact, if there is one complaint to be made it is that we do not spend enough time with some of them. Almost every scene introduces a new and mysterious personality, offering advice, telling cryptic tales or attempting to murder our heroes, only to disappear and leave us wondering. It gives the sense that this could have been an epic on a grand scale with numerous fleshed out and interesting people, but doing so would be a betrayal of the film’s tone. The central performances stand strong against the eerie, quirky and ultimately heartbreaking ways of the wild, wild West.

Slow West is screening for a limited season at Luna Cinemas in Leederville

Images courtesy of A24