Reviews

Yikes, but what part of the Italian legal establishment doesn't come in for some pillorying from Marco Bellochio in this film? It all centres around judge "Mauro" (Michel Piccoli) and his ailing sister "Marta" (Anouk Aimée) who has pretty much brought him up. She isn't coping so well with reality and is frequently prone to suicidal flights of fancy until, that is, he introduces her to the rather roguish actor "Giovanni" (Michele Placido) to whom she takes a bit of a shine. It's the first time her brother hasn't been the sole focus of her attentions since they were children, so despite himself he starts to become a little jealous. He's not a man without influence around town, so decides to use that to ensure that this little fly in his familial ointment is duly swatted. There's a grand dynamic between the three characters as they are used to take swipes at family politics, envy and resentment and we also manage to have a go at some entertainingly small town provincial politics, petty corruption and eccentricities as this two hours really does fly by. It does play a little to stereotypes of age and attitude at times, and is maybe just a bit over-scripted but it's a slightly quirkier look at flawed domesticity and Aimée looks like she enjoyed herself for most of it.

Takes me back to the days when folks had to go to a bathhouse - we'd get half an hour and I'd share with my sister. Carbolic soap! Anyway, don't remember having attendants quite as easy on the eye as "Susan" (Jane Asher) and "Mike" (John Moulder-Brown). Most of the film is taken from the perspective of the latter, constantly horny, young lad who has the serious hots for his colleague. He's young and innocent and so gets his fair share of attention (and tips) from the clientele too - especially Diana Dors! "Susan" lives her life to the full, and that doesn't suit the increasingly possessive young "Mike". He starts to follow her and soon realises that she has a pretty drippy boyfriend "Mike" (Christopher Sandford) and is having a fling with his teacher (Karl Michael Vogler). Somehow he manages to get hold of a full-sized cardboard cut out of his dream girl as the latter half hour of the film descends a little too much into hormone-driven farce for me. It was rated X for the nudity, of which there is a little towards the end, but for the most part the sexual content is confined to the young man's head and JMB is quite good at imbuing his character with a degree of sexual frustration that I suspect we can all relate to. Asher, likewise, is quite effective as his manipulatrix and for an hour or so their teasing cat and mouse antics (she being the cat) are quite fun. Thereafter, though, I sort of lost interest and found it dragging. It's certainly worth a watch, but it's lost most of its oomph I'm afraid.

If you're at all interested in global history with a French slant to it, then this is a must watch. Though her narration is a little on the descriptive side, Claudine Nougaret takes us on quite a fascinating look at events filmed over his extensive career by acclaimed photo-journalist Raymond Depardon. We feature just about everything here from the French colonial events in Africa - the much medalled Bokassa included, through a succession of French Presidents dealing with issues across their country from immigration and industrial relations to poverty and urban troubles. Clearly as time progresses, so does the camera technology used allowing us even greater and more intimate access to his subjects as Nougaret incorporates occasional sound-bites from contemporaries to put some extra meat on the bones of these frequently quite potent images. For the most part, the photography was self-filmed by Depardon and in some of the more hostile or less developed environments, you do realise quite effectively just how perilous his projects were as he accessed areas and people in his quest for honest journalism. It's certainly a journal of France's recent history, but there's plenty for others to get from the narrative and the well constructed use of the archive.

To be fair to director Hope Dickson Leach, she has clearly not had much money with which to produce this adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's short-ish story. What we end up with is a really pretty dry, dingy and paceless version with an enthusiastic but really only competent cast delivering the goods. "Utterson" (Lorn Macdonald) in an ambitious Edinburgh lawyer who is introduced by his friend "Harry Jekyll" (Henry Pettigrew) to the wealthy brewing magnate "Sir Danvers" (David Hayman). Now this gent has a cunning plan to build an huge national monument on the bog-soaked, corpse-ridden, Calton Hill on the outskirts of the city. "Utterson" is tasked with making it possible - regardless of the graves. Meantime, his friend "Jekyll" is becoming a little poorly looking, his behaviour erratic and he also seems to be increasingly under the influence of his enigmatic friend "Mr. Hyde". Getting next to no information from housekeeper "Poole" (Alison Peebles), "Utterson" must try to find out what's happening to his friend before something tragic occurs. It's an hard story to do well at the best of times - think of the character in the money-didn't-matter "League of Extraordinary Gentleman" (2003), so I don't think it was a daft idea to try and present this more within it's means. The monochrome photography goes some way to creating an eerie city well enough, but the acting is straight from rep. It's great that Hayman continues to support Scottish movie-making, but the whole thing just looks like a stage play on, admittedly, quite a few different sets. The production is sterile and wooden, and neither Macdonald nor Pettigrew are anything like convincing with their depictions, especially as the madness grips the latter character and the tension is supposed to mount. I'm afraid to say there are at least three better versions of this in a pretty saturated movie market of Jekyll & Hyde stories.

Xavier Dolan pretty much tries to rewrite the gender identity book with this overly long, but quite potent look at the life of "Laurence" (Melvil Poupaud). He is a pretty discontented man who announces to his long term girlfriend "Fred" (Suzanne Clément) that he is deeply unhappy in his own skin, and that he feels he would be much more fulfilled as a person if her were to be a woman. She's a bit taken aback, there are the "is it me?' conversations and then the realism sets in for her. That realism is even more difficult for his parents. His father, well he takes a slightly more stereotypically rejectionist perspective but his mother (Nathalie Baye) has a far harder time reconciling his choices. Though in response to his "Will you still love me", she comes out with "Are you becoming a woman or an idiot?", you sense that her world is in just as much turmoil as that of her son who now wishes to be her daughter. With the family stresses bubbling away, he starts to dress more freely and that attracts comments at work. He's a literature lecturer - perhaps a vocation that might provide for an atmosphere of tolerance and alternatives? Well, no - not quite, and pretty soon he is without a traditional form of anchor in his life, but no less determined. The story is set across a ten year period during which "Laurence" moves towards realigning his sex and dealing with the consequences for him and those around him. Poupaud is really quite effective at illustrating the peaks and troughs of his new life, of the days of joy and empowerment tempered with those of depression and isolation. Baye also delivers strongly as a woman conflicted and not at all certain of what is best for her child - and there is something plausible about her behaviour. Then there's Bellair's effort as his lover. That doesn't work quite so well for me, but maybe that's because I felt the behaviour written for her character just didn't resonate with realistically very often. It is over-written. There is way too much dialogue and at times I wanted them to shut up so I could take things in and assemble the scenario in my own mind. It has it's thought-provoking moments, and it also has some dry humour to lighten the mood every now and again as, in the end, Poupaud does make you care.

This is one of the most entertainingly bizarre films I've ever seen. The title really only comes into play at the end, and that does put a little context into that, but for the rest of it we follow the curious activities of "Mr. Oscar" (Denis Lavant) who travels the city in an enormous white limousine that wouldn't have looked out of place in Atlantic City, being driven by "Céline" (Edith Scob). His departure in the morning, suited and booted, would lead us to believe he is some high-powered financial operative; his phone calls talking about 150% etc. Fuel that illusion til his driver informs him that his first "appointment" of the day is detailed in a file. To our surprise, we are now drawn back into his car to find it a fully equipped dressing room, complete with make up lights and an extensive collection of cosmetics and costumes. Thereafter, throughout the day, he assumes a series of disguises and carries out some mysterious and/or shocking tasks with the likes of Eva Mendez, Kylie Minogue and Michel Piccoli. He is at one moment a disagreeable vagrant, then doing his own virtual "John Wick" combat scenes in a CGI suite - but why? Who is this man? What on earth is it all about? It's clearly got a moral, well a collection of morals, and these gradually fall into place, but I still took quite a while to realise... It's a wee bit slow at times, but the variety of performances from Lavant are almost vaudeville in their range - there's barely a task to which he cannot turn his creative hand! It won't be for everyone, this, but it's quirky and innovative and far removed from the mundane and procedural. If you're going to watch it, though, turn off all your distractions and give it an undivided two hours, otherwise it will lose it's effectively accumulating punch!

John Gordon Sinclair got a BAFTA nomination for his efforts here in 1981 before the film went on to take the best screenplay honour in 1982 - and it's his charming effort as the lovestruck, geeky, teenager from Cumbernauld that endures even now. He is the eponymous lad who isn't on form with the school football team so is moved into goal. He's not exactly pure dead brilliant, but perks up when the apple of his eye - "Dorothy" (Dee Hepburn) shows some interest in joining the team. A girl playing football! Don't be absurd! Well the school decides it needs to win more than it needs to worry about her sex, so in she comes to the team and that gives the hapless "Gregory" a chance to befriend her a wee bit more and maybe even to pluck up the courage to ask her out for a bag of chips! What ensues is a gently comedic enterprise that invites all of us to recollect our acne-years, when hormones were raging, decisions were lousy and we all had the hots for someone (usually someone unattainable) at school. What he doesn't know is whether she's the least bit interested in him - with or without his best pal's dapper white jacket. It's an engaging rather than ground-breaking observation of teenage life but it also reminds us of the internecine way we all looked out for each other (ostensibly) as our bodies started their adult and sexual phases. His character is also well supported by savvy little sister "Madeline" (Allison Forster) and there's a even a bit part for Scots comedy legend Chic Murray. It's a bit dated, but the principles still apply and it's an easy ninety minutes that makes you cringe in all the right places.

You wouldn't want to be policeman "Nishi" (Takeshi Kitano). His young child died a few years earlier, his wife is terminally ill in hospital and his partner at work takes a bullet that renders him paraplegic. Unsurprisingly, he hits the skids a bit and his priorities become compromised. When his wife is told she can come home, he is determined to make that happen - but where will the money come from to facilitate her? Well he goes and borrows some money from some unsavoury types he has encountered in his career. With his sole raison d'être now being to spend as much time as he can with his ailing wife, some of his other decisions become more and more dubious and requiring of increasingly dangerous and violent action as his creditors demand repayment - in cash or in kind. This is really quite an effective mix of the romantic and the brutal. It illustrates the vulnerability of even the most robust of human beings when touched by tragedy and despair - and when that person is a cunning and capable killer, these risks for all become ever more exacerbated. There's not a great deal of dialogue here, it's mostly Kitano reacting to and dealing with the scenarios he faces trying to sustain that sense of stability and to deal with his crescendo of guilt and it's quite enthralling at times to watch. It does plod along a little at times, and can also be repetitive but it's a different style of dark drama that shows us an human side of someone not motivated by power, or money, or revenge.

It's the USSR in the early 1960s and though the Soviet Union is sending messages to the world of it's success, it's citizens are frequently on the verge of starvation. Even the most ardent of Communist party supporters find it hard when the government puts up the prices, but the wages remain static. This proves the final straw for some factory workers in a small town, who dare to go on strike. Not only that, but they invade the local party HQ where they are disgusted to find the occupants have a supply of cognac and Hungarian sausage. This is all quite traumatising for the loyalist "Lyudmila" (Yulia Vysotskaya) who is a died in the wool supporter but who is genuinely quite abhorred by the military's reaction - a feeling only augmented when she discovers that her young daughter has gone missing. Was she caught up in the silent aftermath? Unlike many, she still has some freedom of movement in this now locked-down town, and so we follow her increasingly desperate search for the girl and encounter the might of a state that brooks no resistance to it's authority. It's a pretty potent indictment of the tyrannical state that uses indoctrination to thrive, and of one that has no compunction when it comes to killing to retain and demonstrate control. It's not necessarily anti-Communist in itself, more anti-authoritarian. It encourages "Lyudmila" (and us) to consider the old adage about absolute power, of fear and retribution. Using a documentary style of photography, Andrey Konchalovskiy clearly has his own views on the Soviet state to impart here, but that message is easily transferred to dictatorships the world over, and with a strong and progressively emotional effort from Vyotskaya as a woman whose life is now upside down, whose values have been challenged and whose priorities have been well and truly shaken, is quite powerfully presented. Blood won't clean easily from asphalt - so you need to re-tarmac the street!

This is the second "Quartet" film to feature Dame Maggie Smith and I definitely prefer this one! The story is set in a retirement home for musicians and singers, and one that is gearing up for it's annual fund-raising gala as well as for a much anticipated new arrival. It's that latter event that sets the cat amongst the pigeons for the amiable threesome of "Wilf" (Sir Billy Connolly), "Reggie" (Sir Tom Courtenay) and "Cissy" (Pauline Collins - who ought surely to be a dame by now?). The legend that is "Jean Horton" - a veteran of La Scala, duly arrives and it turns out that she (Dame Maggie) used to be married to "Reggie" and now he's a bit upset. Meantime, the gala - under the direction of the flamboyantly hammy "Cedric" (Sir Michael Gambon) is facing a disaster after it's star turn had to pull out. The three friends conclude that the best plan to save their home might be to reconstitute their legendary quarter from "Rigoletto" - but can they all forgive and forget long enough to take to the stage? It's Collins who steals this for me. Her character is a bit of a dippy and good natured amnesiac who serves well as the lynch pin between the flirtatious and cheeky "Wilf" and the more highly-strung divorcees. The writing is funny enough, but it's really the characterisations that work best here. You could easily imagine that places like this exist for people who made a decent enough living when stardom shone, but had little to fall back on as old age crept up on them leaving them isolated and skint. The only true songstress here, Dame Gwyneth Johns, joins in the joke merrily parodying the luvvie-types with gusto and also providing us with a glorious version of her (original) "Vissi d'arte" from "Tosca" too. It's all a bit predictable, sure, but Dustin Hoffman keeps it out of the realms of sentimental cheesiness and everyone here looks like they are having fun making film designed to enjoy rather than over-think.

As with many a tale like this - we will probably never know the whole story of how the Russian submarine "Kursk" came to sink and of the desperate attempts to rescue the stranded sailors. What Thomas Vinterberg does here, though, is direct a film with a plausible, quite compelling, narrative that elicits good, solid, performances from Matthias Schoenaerts and August Diehl who manage to convey the claustrophobic scenes on board remarkably well. Max von Sydow exemplifies the old guard establishment figure to a T and lends all the more to the frustration that maybe more could have been done to save lives had politicking played a less prominent role in the salvage process. Any comments on the accuracy of the efforts at international collaboration would be speculative, but Colin Firth does imbue some genuine sense of eagerness to assist and an awareness of the urgencies involved. This is well worth a watch.

Think this might be the pinnacle of the Merchant Ivory storytelling world (with thanks to E. M. Forster), as a strong ensemble cast assembles to tell a tale of Edwardian Britain that brings into stark focus a class system that is just beginning to show some cracks. "Wilcox" (Anthony Hopkins) is what I suppose you'd call nouveau riche. A millionaire industrialist who has acquired quite a few grand country properties from the increasingly impoverished aristocracy. When his first wife (Vanessa Redgrave) dies at the eponymous country cottage, she has apparently promised it to her friend "Margaret" (Emma Thompson) but the family choose to disregard the bequeathing letter and she is none the wiser. Meantime, her well meaning and quite fussy sister "Helen" (Helena Bonham-Carter) has become aware of the hard working clerk "Bast" (Samuel West) who is married, sympathetically but rather unlovingly, to "Jacky" (Nicola Duffett) and not without ambition. "Wilcox" is set upon remarrying, and it's "Margaret" who gets the nod. Thing is, though, can there ever be any chance of any real love between them, or indeed for any of them, as the family ghosts - past and present, come back to haunt them and poor "Bast"? It's a grand looking saga this, and it plays the politics of the day well as there are three initially distinct strata of society gradually intermingling, some more willingly than others, throughout the unfolding drama. I actually thought it was the engaging effort from Duffett that stole the show, but Redgrave also contributes well, if briefly, as the ailing "Mrs. Wilcox" and Samuel West also stands out, portraying his character as a decent man who is a fish-out-of water at the best of times, but even more adrift after entrusting himself and his affairs to "Helen". It's a characterful study of human nature that shows up hypocrisy and delivers kindness, showcases nicely all the artifice of the creative talent and is worth a watch.

If you are a fan of "The Clash" then you might get more from this fly-on-the-wall, partially dramatised, documentary that follows their ascendancy in the UK towards the end of the 1970s. To give it some sort of narrative, there's a fan inserted into the mix and he serves as a conduit to not just the story of the four piece's musical journey, but also to illustrate a Britain that was wallowing after many years of ineffective government, out of control trades unions, and on the cusp of electing Margaret Thatcher (who does feature now and again telling us about the safety of old ladies walking along the street). What's interesting about their conversations is that the band vacillate entertainingly from the banal gibberish of stoned, drunk, opinionated would-be rock stars to perfectly lucid men with astute views of society and the causes of the misery which many of us Brits experienced at the time. The drama doesn't really work so well, but when they are on stage the thing can be quite electric, and the bands engagement with a wide demographic delivering some potently observational lyrics; plenty of ripe and vivid language, and some poor soul sent to the hotel corridor so another could get laid in their shared room brings some humour to it too. It's far too long and indulgently paced though, and there's not enough music to really stop in from becoming a bit too repetitive. Needs a shortening to tighten up the story, but still interesting enough.

I think Paul Kircher really captures the vulnerability of his "Lucas" character well here. He lives with his parents - Juliet Binoche and Christophe Honoré until an accident robs them of his father. His brother "Quentin" (Vincent Lacoste) returns from his home in Paris and the family start to come to terms with their grief. That manifests itself in many ways amongst the threesome, and causes friction between them too. It's his brother who comes up with the idea of taking the seventeen year old "Lucas" for some time in the big city, and so off they go. He shares his small apartment with "Lilio" (Erwan Kepoa Falé) to whom the young man immediately takes a shine. We already know that he is gay, and his time in the city gives him chance to explore the cultural sites of the city, and to give his Grindr a bit of exercise too. The narrative is peppered with occasional flashbacks as the young man continues to struggle to come to terms with his loss, becomes increasingly more selfish and introspective; reckless and thoughtless and also a little unforgiving of the stress on his family too. A bit of a misdemeanour (for a measly 150 Euros) sees his brother send him back home and that's where things step up a gear and everyone gets a fright. Reality takes the family by the scruff of the neck - but hopefully it will start the young "Lucas" on some sort of path to continue his life more positively. Binoche features sparingly, but her every expression conveys emotion - whether that be sadness, grief, exasperation or love; and there is plenty of love amongst this family. Lacoste also fares well as "Quentin" must reconcile the needs of his own life with those of his family - not an easy task when your teenage brother has the hots for a flatmate ten years older. It's Kircher who steals this, though. There is a confidence about his performance that is engaging to watch. He does elicit sympathy but you do want to just give him a slap at times, too. His behaviour isn't malevolent, but it's not so much of a melodramatic "cry for help", either. It's about his sorrow, his sadness and all of their emptiness, and the bitterness of those feelings. Who knew people still wore turquoise underpants, either! Maybe a little on the long side, but I reckon this actor might be around for a while to come.

Lorenzo Ferro really does deliver well here and is pretty convincing as the curly-haired, butter-wouldn't-melt, Argentinian lad (Carlos) who at the age of seventeen already had his parent's piano stuffed full of ill-gotten pesos. His childhood within a respectable family suggested nothing out of the ordinary til he went to school and met the charismatic petty crook Ramón (Chino Darín). He is infatuated, and there's pretty much nothing he won't do to get and keep his new friend's attention. When that starts to involve his having access to guns, and cars and drugs... The rest of the film is creatively augmented historical fact as this young man discovers violence is a route to riches and success, and that leads to killing and that - well the rushes of blood to the head are addictive. You really could imagine the character delivering the communion wafers on a Sunday and smiling at the babies, yet he was really far more adept with a pistol at eyeball range. His apprehension itself only served to further fuel his desire for acclamation. The media had him on every front page and every television station. He even manages to escape - but that, too, seems little more than a publicity stunt. The production is a bit rough around the edges; the attempts to imply some sort of sexual fluidity to Carlos don't work so well, and there's too much dialogue but Ferro's performance as man for whom taking other lives meant nothing was, I felt, quite sociopathically engaging.

There's a lovely line in this otherwise unremarkable adaptation of the Henry James novel from Vanessa Redgrave who announces something along the lines of being eternally grateful for not having the vote! It did make me smile. That, sadly, is about all that did as we trudge through this stylish but turgid story of the embryonic American suffragette movement. Amidst this struggle for enfranchisement, the bright "Verena" (Madeleine Potter) is facing the affections of the more traditional "Basil" (Christopher Reeve), himself a man who she ought to have little time for. Might there be the slightest chance that something might develop between them? Initially, there is some sparky conversation amongst the well-heeled citizens and there is potency in some of the dialogue, but boy - after about half an hour the whole things slows to a glacial pace; is seriously over-written and even the usually charismatic Jessica Tandy ("Miss Birdseye") struggles to breath life into what ought to have been a sharp and wittily constructed dramatisation of a story about politics, empowerment and - yes, romance too. Reeve is as wooden as a washboard which doesn't help and though Potter does give it her all, the film just lacks spark, pace or oomph. As ever with Merchant Ivory films, the things looks a million dollars, but there's no excusing the weaknesses all around here and it takes for ever, too.

"Marya" (Isabelle Adjani) finds herself out on a limb when her husband "Stephane" (Anthony Higgins) is incarcerated for a year for some art fraud. Luckily (or not) she is taken pity on by "H. J." (Alan Bates) and his doting wife "Lois" (Maggie Smith). They invite her into their lives but quickly, she realises that he has a bit of a wandering eye and that though his wife is fully aware, she is too afraid of losing him to intervene. "Marya" doesn't welcome his attentions, indeed she makes it clear that she's not the slightest interest at all, but a combination of circumstances and her foreign birth (she is originally from the Caribbean) make it tough for her to find acceptance or a job. Despite repeated attempts to flee, she finds herself drawn more and more into his toxic manipulations - even once her husband is released from prison. "Stephane" is under no illusions as to the scenario and so now it's choice time for everyone who has got used to the situation and the lifestyle. Thing is, here, it's all so gorgeously filmed, costumed and designed but the delivery of the story is entirely sterile. Bates, especially when he tries to get emotional, is frankly pretty terrible and Smith's character is just so weak and feeble that she has little to get her teeth into the role beyond playing (well) a porcelain shadow of a woman. It's probably Adjani who disappoints most, though. She's as flat as a pancake with her performance, coupled with the rest of the lacklustre direction, presenting us with something that is very much a victory for style over substance.

The heavy trailing of this and the fact that it's part one does little to help any sense of menace as we follow the young "Maya" (Madelaine Petsch) and boyfriend "Ryan" (Froy Gutierrez) on their road trip to Portland. She's heading to start a new job as an architect, and it looks like she might have been responsible for manscaping her boyfriend's perfect visage as this annoyingly loved up and clingy couple arrive at a remote rural diner. They're not married, which seems to rile the locals and when they go to leave, their brand new car won't start. Ha! Luckily, there's an air b'n'b nearby. A remote cabin fully equipped with all the home comforts - even some Dolly to play on vinyl. They're famished so he borrows a motor bike to go fetch some burgers, she's left behind and that's where the paranoia sets in. Is she being watched? Is she alone? Will "Ryan" get back before she has finished smoking a dodgy joint, listening to an entire LP and having a long shower? Was the burger joint in California? Anyway, it's soon clear that they are in some danger and together they must use all their skill and guile to stay alive! The scenario works a bit like "Cabin in the Woods". The moonlit forest serving as a backdrop for some ridiculous choices and some woefully bad acting/writing. It does manage to engender a slight degree of peril near the conclusion, but there's really nothing at all new here and from fairly early on it is clear just what part two will be all about. Not terrible, but really predicable and disappointingly flat.

Anders Danielsen Lie offers a really quite intense performance here as the recovering drug addict "Anders". His physicians think he's sufficiently improved to be able to spend a day, unsupervised, in Oslo, with family and friends and to have an interview for a job. Initially it all goes well. He drops in on "Thomas" (Hans Olav Brenner) and his family and is geared up (not literally) for his interview. That's where the wheels come off and we spend the rest of his day as he reminisces about the past, encounters some of those important to that past and gradually appears to be coming to terms with what he considers best for his future. Joachim Trier uses the gentle pacing of this drama to allow Lie to slowly demonstrate his character's sense of introspection and considered self-destruction. This isn't an ill-educated man who grew up in squalor or depravity, this is an erudite and engaging "Anders" who comes from a decent, loving, home that's not without it's ups and downs, but ought to have provided him with more of an emotional robustness that we are presented with here. There is a solid cast of supporting actors - Malin Crépin ("Malin") strong amongst them, as his brain appears to be putting his house in order. It's not an easy film to sit through. It's traumatic in a delicate and measured sort of way, and Lie delivers us a persona with whom it's easy enough to empathise and want to give a good shake to, too.

Despite being warned that a group of monkeys about to be released from a lab by some anti-vivisectionists are laced with disease, they let one of them out anyway and next thing it's a month later and "Jim" (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in hospital all by himself. There's not a soul to be seen, anywhere. He can't spend the entire film wandering about naked, so finds some scrubs and goes exploring - gradually gleaning information about the plague that led to the evacuation of the cities and to his current isolation. It's not as if he had anything to do with the release of this virus, but he now has to deal with it's consequences. Luckily he encounters "Selena" (Naomie Harris) and "Mark" (Noah Huntley) who save him from a marauding mob (think "Omega Man" from 1971) and their risky adventures begin trying to find what's left of humanity and hopefully safety. A wind-up radio broadcast gives them some hope, and off they travel with newfound friends "Frank" (Brendan Gleeson) and his daughter "Hannah" (Megan Burns) in their black taxi (so of course, it takes a circuitous route) to Manchester. Their arrival visits tragedy on the small group but also introduces them to the last bastions of military security - under the command of "Maj. West" (Christopher Eccleston). Pretty swiftly they realise that very little of this new scenario is much safer for them and their thoughts turn to leaving...! This is quite an effective apocalyptic tale of corrupted science and morals and uses, for most of the first section of the film, dialogue sparingly allowing the eerie photography and soundtrack of a largely abandoned London to set the scene for us. Thereafter the writing isn't the best, but the benign sense of menace exuded by Eccleston and the confidence of both Harris and the young Burns work well at giving us an almost claustrophobic sense of peril, especially as we drift to a denouement that is cleverly constructed to make us think. It's bleak and threatening at times, not without the odd dark humour and in the end presents us with quite an intriguing look at humanity in many of it's less attractive, more visceral, guises. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland keep a few twists for the tale at the end, too, and Murphy holds it all together in an understatedly potent fashion.

There are some quite startling statistics used to underpin the thread of the narration here. The routine dispensation of justice onto minor offenders who's defence has had about five minutes to prepare, who's prosecutors have had just about the same amount of time to proceed and the judge (probably with repetitive strain injury) who can deal with over 25,000 of these misdemeanours in one calendar year. It's an hand-held camera job for the most part exposing the audience to a wide variety of people who have fallen foul of the law. Some for the first time, some who are clearly hoping for a place to sleep and a decent meal as it's conceivably safer (and warmer) for them inside one of the basic, and ageing, correctional facilities. The writing is pretty cynical about the relative merits of this production-line process and after about ten minutes, it's not hard to see why. Resources are relentlessly tied up in a vicious circle that offers little hope to anyone. It's an aptly named documentary that is dry as a bone, but worth a watch.

Henry Fonda narrated this really quite dry documentary looking at the state of opportunity for young people from less privileged backgrounds in the American Mid-West. Centred around a group of curious and aware students in their late teens, it follows their educational processes, their debates with each other, their politics - inducing reason and anger in equal measure, before rounding off with some well-intentioned, if a little earnest, commentary from educators about how education can and will improve the lot of just about everyone in an American society that is still rife with segregation. Time has really left this behind, and it is now little better than a group of opinionated kids performing to camera offering - as we all did - the gospel according to me.

Some of the language here is a bit on the pejorative side, but the underlying message contained in this documentary is quite effective at illustrating the problems of the profoundly handicapped people for whom society really only has one solution. Institutionalising them. A single camera follows the daily trials and tribulations of people struggling with disabilities that affect everything from their brain function to their mobility. What's a little more distinctive here is that the focus is more on able-bodied people learning to adapt to their world, not the other way round. Can we find common ground, but more on terms easily accessible and acceptable to people who cannot (or will not) understand? Belligerence is rife and the skills of the professionals here is to peacefully mitigate tha,t keeping tempers down, options open and allowing for all to retain their dignity. The production is basic, but that's fine - it allows the focus to fall squarely on the "patients" and the patience. It's dated, but it's still an useful retrospective on just how scared we were of stigma and the unknown.

This has a cumulative narration a little like the "12 Days of Christmas" as each sentence evolves then repeats the preceding one. That makes for quite an entertaining appraisal of the life of "Jack" as he lives in an house just like everyone else's and goes to work to pay the bills day in, day out. Then his car blows up and he trades in the wreck for some beans! His wife goes potty and he's relegated to the floor that night. In the morning, yep, there's a beanstalk that "Jack" climbs and his encounter with the "giant" sends him scurrying back down with a mirror that he's pinched. This gives him self confidence, a belief that he can achieve anything and next thing, well his house is a bit different from his neighbours - but is he fulfilled? The animation is a bit limited, I felt, but the pace of the thing; the fun narration and the underlying story of grass always being greener and the futile search for perfection is quite well delivered.

Will (Nathan Wilson) is a young nurse imprisoned for rape after a drunken one night stand. Protesting his innocence, he must adapt to the harsh realities of prison life while his barristers try to organise an appeal. Fortunately, he falls in with Jimmy (Martin Sacks) who, after a bit of hostility, becomes his pal and protector. He also discovers God, or the Christian faith at any rate, whilst incarcerated and we watch his personality and maturity develop over the next 1¾ hours. Somehow it doesn't quite work, though. It is oddly sterile. Why do the pair bond? The religious undertones are so subtle as to be almost irrelevant and though it does deal with serious issues - bullying, mental health and suicide, it does so with an almost soap-style of storytelling. The acting is fine, the drama is fine, the writing is fine - but that's about the height of it, really as it builds predictably to an ending that is hardly a ringing endorsement of the Australian justice system. It's a decent debut effort from director Mack Lindon, but in itself, nothing very remarkable.