Breaker Morant

Saw Breaker Morant, an Australian military courtroom drama set during the Boer War. The film follows a trio of Australian soldiers who are fighting on behalf of Britain and who are on trial for the murder of some Boer prisoners. From the beginning, it's clear that the deck is stacked against these soldiers and that this is part of some political theater the Brits are trying to play. The film follows the typical beats of a crooked courtroom drama from there, the soldiers are assigned an inexperienced lawyer who arrives with a messy sheaf of wrinkled papers, asking questions of the soldiers and then miraculously becoming competent in court, cross-examining the first witness to within an inch of his life. You know.

the film is interestingly political. The Boer war was a guerrilla war, fought by locals against colonial invaders. Likewise the drama of the courtroom mirrors the conflict, with one side virtuously playing fair and the other side breaking some rules and making up new ones. Also this is a film told from an Australian perspective. At this point Australia had just recently become an independent nation, eager to make allies and to be taken seriously. The stuffy Brits ruling the courtroom sneer at the soldiers but, later of course, must begrudgingly take them seriously. So, in this way, the courtroom reflects the outside world as well.

The film is interesting and well shot. It's not the most engaging film, preferring still shots of talking heads to dramatic reenactment but it held my attention anyway. It's very dramatic and frustrating, rewarding and then punishing. A film about soldiers caught up in a game they don't understand or that, perhaps, they understand only too well.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Saw Steamboat Bill, Jr., a silent film starring the wooden-faced Buster Keaton. It's a delightful piece of buffoonery, Keaton managing not only to trip multiple times but, each time he's tripped, to do magnificent flips and pirouetting pratfalls. Just great. The story is the usual: Keaton is the bumbling son of an angry man who runs a steamboat. This man is locked in a bitter rivalry with another riverboat man, but one who wears a suit, so you know he's rich. This rich man has a daughter who takes a fancy to the bumbling Keaton and, now that this teetering, ridiculous scaffolding of a premise is constructed, the film gleefully watches it all fall over and explode.

There's not much to say here. The film is essentially a series of high-budget vaudeville skits, with Keaton risking his life to bring the funny. It's great fun but of course the characters are paper-thin and the plot is an afterthought. There's apparently some fancy camera-work on display but I'm too ignorant to spot it. In any case, this is a nice, dumb little film.

Beverly Hills Cop

Saw Beverly Hills Cop, an obscenely 80s film which pretends to be a comedy despite only being a kind of lighthearted actions film. The action is light and humorous, but only in a riffing, quippy sort of way. There are no setup/punchline style jokes. Anyway, the film is fairly light and fun. The style of the whole thing is very, very 80s, with big hair, vinyl suits, and the gaudiest art gallery you've ever seen. In addition to being set in an inherently ridiculous era, it features Eddie Murphy quipping and joking and having a grand old time. This must be one of his more serious roles however as he spends most of it being serious and acting and only a tiny part of the time sleepwalking through easy-going jokes. It's a nice little film.

I was kind of annoyed at how Eddie Murphy's character smilingly introduces corruption and cronyism into the police force, but then again as an outsider I would prefer cops behave like the sort of pedantic, humorless, stick-in-the-mud that this film pokes fun at, so fair enough. Much more interesting to me were the moments that were not actually homoerotic but could easily be read that way. Several times men declare that they love each other and when Eddie is getting round the cops who are supposed to be tailing him, the sequence is shot in a seductive soft-focus lens. This is just me snickering at gay jokes I'm telling myself, but it was a source of amusement to me.

A light and amusing film, it's a paragon of an 80s film, not only in terms of the fashions on display, or in terms of the little slobs-vs-snobs theme, but also in that it's a by-the-numbers blockbuster. Winning protagonist, sexy femme, and big shoot-out set piece finale. A perfect time-waster all around.

A Town Called Panic

Saw A Town Called Panic (thanks, John!) It's a freewheeling children's movie about a cowboy and Indian who live with their horse. The horse is a sort of father figure to them, gruffly ordering them around and making sure they don't get into trouble. The cowboy and Indian decide to build the horse a barbecue pit for his birthday, instead of just getting him a hat like they do every year. Accidentally they order 50 million bricks for the barbecue though which is the start of zany adventures. The whole thing is stop-motion with a few 2D animated segments thrown in. It's extremely fun and delightful.

The film is fairly unsubstantial, dealing more with whimsy and fun than profound ideas or pop culture. The film has a timeless, fairy-tale quality. The story of the cowboy and the Indian dealing with millions of bricks, being scooped up by robotic penguins, being chased through the sea by barracudas, is timeless. The film is just pure joy. Very silly, very fun. I loved it and have nothing further to say about it.

Trollhunter

Saw Trollhunter, a Norwegian docu-comedy shot in the hand-held, Blare Witch style. We follow some film students who are trying to track down a man they believe to be a bear poacher but, as we quickly discover, is hunting much larger game. The film is not remotely scary, with the trolls themselves looking rubbery and CGI-generated. Also several of the actors are well-known Norwegian comedians, so this is a sort of straight-faced comedy. The best jokes come from the grizzled hunter confirming fairy tale trivia about Trolls (hey do indeed smell the blood of a Christian mun) and angrily denying others ("Do they live under bridges?" "No. That's just fairy tale stuff.") Also there's the great slow-burn of talking about trolls like they're any other big game, talking of bull and sow trolls, territorial markings, spoor. Good fun!

the film is essentially a big-game ride-along. Most of the time is spent getting to know the grizzled troll-hunter and world-building to explain why the trolls are such a close secret. It's played completely straight. Most of the film is spent in the wilds of Norway and Sweden, admiring the rugged beauty of the frozen mountains and fjords. Every so often they come face to face with a troll but not often. It's very high-concept, cerebral silliness. Interesting but a bit slow for me.

The Year My Voice Broke

Saw The Year My Voice Broke, a coming of age film about the wild girl Freya and her would-be boyfriend Danny. They have a hideout from the world and are both into psychic messaging and ghosts. Danny is in love with Freya but she's only interested in Trevor, the school quarterback, who is fond of practical jokes and giggling. Being a teenage boy and all, Danny pines away and becomes a good friend, although he also steals her panties and continues to kind of awkwardly try to romance her. He's sensitive and writes songs and is beat up at school for writing poetry and is clearly the audience insert.

This being a film for and about Nice Guys, I was all set to point out how selfish Danny is being, skulking around waiting for his moment to capture Freya when she at last turns to him out of boredom or desperation, but in fact he's fairly selfless and kind throughout, even as he's unhappy about Freya's (and even Trevor's) suffering. The small-town villagers come off the worst in this film, spreading innuendo, feigning indignation to cover pure delight at the scandal of a teen having sex.

The ghosts of the past become a major theme, Freya's parentage colouring the town's image of her. The kids imagine themselves to be haunted by spirits, but they are actually haunted by the lives of their parents' generation. The rumours of the town are borne of bitterness directed at people who are now long-dead, who the kids have the misfortune to be related to. Atop all of this, though, is a teen romance and angst-fest which I enjoyed immensely. All of their hyperbolic statements, their poses they strike. It's a really sweet film with interesting themes peaking up just above the surface.

An Affair to Remember

Saw An Affair to Remember, a romance about a man and woman, both engaged to other people, who suddenly fall in love on a cruise ship. The woman is a sort of shut-in, once a cocktail lounge singer, now the kept woman of an industrialist. The man is a playboy who is marrying a rich lady. It's the sort of film that starts off cute and just gets progressively sweeter and sweeter and sweeter, smothering your cynicism and overwhelming you with its adorable sweetness until at last you rebel and start shouting "oh for God's sake!" at the screen, making eye contact with your cat and asking her "Are you seeing this?"

For me, the first ominous rumblings of the treacly sweetness to come was during the visit to the man's grandmother. She's so fucking adorable she brings the woman to tears. She can see that the man and woman have something special together, although she's only met this woman for five minutes. Okay, I can deal with this. But I can't deal with the following tearful piano playing, the tearful farewells, and the tearful run back for just one last hug. Oh! How sweet it all is!

The film comes out of the depths of the Hayes Code era. Every kiss happens off-screen or becomes a hilariously unlikely hug at the last moment. The actors do their best to show physical affection, but of course they can't really do much beyond grip each other's elbows because for heaven's sake this isn't a porno! The film gets yet more mawkish after the granny visit, but I'd have to give some serious spoilers to talk about it. Suffice to say there's a chorus of adorable little white kids (plus exactly one black boy and exactly one black girl) singing a song about following "the little scout" (i.e. your conscience.) Ugh.

I'm being very mean here and I should admit that this is a very well-respected film. It clearly wasn't made for me though but I admit I did enjoy the falling-in-love shenanigans, and some of the twists and turns in the film. The writing and acting are top-notch but it's really way too precious and cute for me in a slightly ugly, repressive 1950s sort of way. This is escapism but I feel it has escaped entirely into some weird and lurid fantasy.