Its raining hard outside, this we are reliably informed by news and media is due to a weather bomb. This is the first time I have heard that term used to describe a weather pattern. It seems almost befitting after a lack lustre week of film releases which made venturing outside less than appealing.
Being between jobs means at the moment with a little too much down time between job hunting and redrafting my CV. I have been revisiting old haunts in Wellington. I also used the opportunity to view two films at Wellington's the Embassy, which has just undergone a major refurbishment which has added twog two new screens, and a downstairs bar.
Being Oscar week I had to see the Artist which I enjoyed on a technical level but didn't love .Jean Dujardin's performance is outstanding, capturing that silent era style of acting with masterful emotional performance that perfectly converys the depths of his character without the fall back of sound. Equally Michel Hazanavicius direction is masterful, there are moments when I really felt like I was watching a film from the period, it is only when Berenice Bejo is on screen that the cinematography feels a little contemporary. Bearing in mind its Oscar wins I have to say I felt they were well deserved except for Best Picture, which I felt should have gone to Hugo.
It there was one film last week that blew me away, it would have to be Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy a masterful adaptation of a very British spy tale. Tomas Alfredson deft direction brings a wonderful sense of depth coupled with intelligence. Set at the height of the 70's cold war, George Smiley as played by Gary Oldman is approached by government ministers to investigate top level leaks within the British Secret Service, all point to a double agent working within the Circus.
As a child of the UK in the 70's I can say with some confidence that he captures that mood so prevalent at the time, that cold war paranoia that so dominated the British press at the time. I caught myself smiling when I saw the familiar logo of Wimpy up there on the big screen. A fast food chain that served a mix of good old English stodge, along with Burgers and which by the mid 90's had almost disappeared from the British high-street. It was the place that was affordable, the British equivalent for its time of Burger King or McDonald's, the one place I was guaranteed a trip too when visiting the cinema with my dad.
Sir Alec Guinness was the most notable George Smiley of my youth, the BBC having made a series of notable adaptation's of John Le Carre's novels. Oldman's style seems more appropriate and more how I imagined him from the novels. There is a complexity conveyed without having to say a word. In this film, silence, and body language of characters convey a lot more than what is said. This film is very a much a game of mental chess, and if at times you lose track of who is doing what to who'm all the information is there on the screen and so would well be worth revisiting on its eventual release on Blu ray or dvd.
A solid cast, a virtual whose who of British acting both old and new In a taught highly intelligent thriller, I highly recommend this film.
In closing just one quick note about the Oscar's. For the first year in quite a while I failed to be excited by the nominations. Films I thought deserved to be nominated weren't, I wanted Tintin to garner at least one nomination and felt that Weta's work on Rise of the Planet of the Apes deserved to be rewarded. It just seemed to me to be a lacklustre year. But at least Hugo which I felt showed a master Director at the top of his game got five technical awards. So I felt some relief. Hopefully next year will be a more rewarding event.
But big shout out for Wellington's own Bret McKenzie for his best song Oscar and well deserved too.
