Life Is Beautiful (PG)

Italian modern classic Life Is Beautiful... out on Blu-ray Monday 2nd April!

Life Is Beautiful (PG) (This review on FilmJuice.com)

Life Is Beautiful, Roberto Benigni’s 1997 multi-Oscar winning triumph is a timeless modern fairytale. Set in 1930s Italy, Benigni plays the ingenious and good natured Guido. When the beautiful Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni’s wife) literally falls out of the sky and into his arms, Guido is instantly smitten. A series of gloriously fortunate events later the couple are married and have a son, and look likely to live happily ever after. However, after this uplifting opening the story takes a dark turn, as the Nazi’s whisk the young family off to a concentration camp. There Guido must use his vivid imagination to protect his wife and son from the surrounding horrors.

The first half of the film is crafted with such delightful creativity that the title seems beyond apt. Said title in fact originates from a quote by a holocaust survivor; a quote that helped to convince the filmmakers that it wasn’t inappropriate to make a comedy set during one of history’s darkest chapters.

Benigni’s slapstick combined with clever narrative contrivances make the opening hour fly by like a dream. The film’s tone then changes suddenly from a light and summery comedy, to a dark and harrowing recreation of the holocaust. This transition is jarring, perhaps deliberately so in order to contrast the graveness of the second half with the beauty of the first. With desperate heroism Guido maintains a ruse to his son that in fact they have gone to a holiday resort, where they must a play a game and win points. The implausibility of the story that seemed so appropriate earlier in the film, doesn’t quite work from this point onward. The filmmakers clearly realised this, because narration was added later to further explain that the story was intended as a fairytale.

All the contrivances, however brilliant, can’t help but add up to something of a predictable finale; a finale that highlights the one dimensionality of Guido as a character. But, the writing is such and the point of the story so obvious and noble, that these flaws can be overlooked.

The cast is uniformly fantastic, from Benigni’s heartwarming and Oscar winning central performance, to Giorgio Cantarini’s sublime debut as his little son. Interestingly, Cantarini went on to play the son of Maximus in Gladiator, likely giving him the finest filmography of any eight year old at the time! Nicoletta Braschi also shines as Guido’s devoted wife, playing her part perfectly in one of the most wonderfully touching romances ever seen on the silver screen.

The magic and warmth of Nicola Piovani’s unforgettable score makes it perhaps the most deserving of the film’s three Academy Awards, and the emotive cinematography by Tonino Delli Colli gives the film the feeling of a sumptuous classic.

Life Is Beautiful is an enchanting fable, and one of the most successful non-English language films to date. Uniquely poignant and full of joy, it firmly deserves its reputation as a must-see latter-day classic.

Blu-ray extras: Introduction by Martin Scorsese, Revisiting Life Is Beautiful - 15 years after featurette, Making of featurette, Trailer, B-roll.

The Living Wake (15)

Just out on DVD this week is the hilarious and thoughtful The Living Wake. FilmJuice are running a competition, so for your chance to win a copy just click here!

The Living Wake (15) (This review on FilmJuice.com)

The Living Wake is an absurdist comedy of the highest order. K. Roth Binew (Mike O’Connell) is an eccentric with an expiry date. His Doctor has diagnosed him with a mysterious disease, the only known fact of which is the precise moment at which the sufferer will die. Accompanied by his friend and devotee Mills Joquin (Jesse Eisenberg) K. Roth spends his last day making a last ditch search for the meaning of life, and ensuring that once he’s gone he will not be forgotten.

K. Roth is a character of such inventive wit and passion that it’s hard to believe he’s on the verge of death. O’Connell perfectly inhabits the character, embracing every ridiculous implication of his nature. Without such a strong turn The Living Wake would have been a lesser affair, but as it is his performance makes the film a blast. Shunned by his family and desperate for recognition, K. Roth is a character custom-made for young artists to relate to.

Director Sol Tryon clearly drew inspiration from the works of Hal Ashby and Wes Anderson, particularly Harold and Maude and The Royal Tenenbaums. The way Tryon frames a shot is unmistakably reminiscent of the quirky yet matter of fact look that has become a signature of Anderson’s work; but Tryon keeps safely on the right side of the line between style stealing and paying homage.

The story’s whacky reality takes a few minutes to warm to, but once it gets going the film is consistently entertaining. Some of the supporting parts are underdeveloped and cheesy, but this is mostly redeemed by the strength and depth of the central characters.

Jesse Eisenberg brings a quieter brand of comedy to the show, expertly complementing O’Connell’s over the top performance with a less showy but equally effective one. Though sometimes mute, the rest of the time Mills makes no less clever use of the English language than K. Roth does. The script (jointly written by O’Connell and Peter Kline) is alive with wordplay and charm, achieving an impressive balance between its dark themes and surreal jokes.

O’Connell also contributed to the music, collaborating with Carter Little to produce a delightfully peculiar soundtrack interwoven with songs, lending the production a heightened dreamlike quality.

Though undeniably off the wall the film retains a sombre edge, as if lamenting the transience of life without ceasing to beguile its audience (just like K. Roth’s living wake). Tryon has crafted a production that enthralls with gags and mayhem, whilst subtly presenting a bleak and thought provoking worldview.

Tiny Furniture (15)

Out in cinemas this week: Tiny Furniture. Hardly worth the price of admission, but very much worth reading the review to find out why!

Tiny Furniture (15) (This review on FilmJuice.com)

Lena Dunham’s second feature film as writer, director and star is a semi-autobiographical coming of age comedy. Technically it is several steps ahead of her last effort ‘Creative Nonfiction’, but covers much the same ground about the life of a young woman (Aura, played by Dunham) with a frustratingly unknowable future. In the former film she was a student, whereas here she is a graduate returning home to her family (played by Dunham’s actual family!) where she must either remember who she is, or discover who she is going to be.

Aura drifts lazily between different aspects of her new life, from finding work to relating to her family, and most of all looking for boys. Unsurprisingly the film presents a distinctly feminine point of view, with everything from dolling up to recently grown body parts getting a mention. Tiny Furniture is much more likely to appeal to female audiences.

Aura finds herself in adventures involving meeting new faces, experimenting with drugs, sex, and finding a job. She goes to parties, scolds her sister for filling the house with noisy teens, and invites a man she barely knows to live with her and share a bed. She fumbles through this early stage of her none too eventful life, getting burnt here, finding pleasure there... unsophisticatedly getting her bearings on her existence as many do. End of film; and that right there is the trouble... Tiny Furniture doesn’t have much substance. It’s like a dramatised diary entry of a woman in her mid-twenties put on screen for all to see... you don’t have to be a psychoanalyst to spot the exhibitionist in Lena Dunham.

The thing that is impressive is Dunham’s obvious growth as an artist. Where Creative Nonfiction looked frankly home made, this is shot with an elegant confidence rarely seen from young filmmakers. Though it may seem lacklustre, Tiny Furniture is a definite gauntlet for wannabe filmmakers everywhere to get off their posteriors, film the scripts saved on their coffee stained laptops and get them in front of an audience.

The curious soundtrack by newcomer Teddy Blanks is infectious and uplifting, a perfect fit for Dunham’s endearingly Woody Allen-esque mumblecore work. Edit-wise the film could have done without the final twenty minutes or so, with Dunham finally succumbing to repeating herself self-indulgently.

Although most will likely find it an overlong navel gazing fest, the cheeky laughs and likable, if not memorable, vibe make this an undiminishable achievement for Dunham.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (12A)

Best Picture Oscar nominee still in cinemas!

This review was first published in The Methodist Recorder (www.methodistrecorder.co.uk).

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (12A)

The latest film by director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) follows nine year old Oskar Schell as he struggles to cope with grief after losing his father on 9/11. Oskar may or may not suffer from Asperger’s syndrome, and needs to hone his interpersonal skills as well as face his many fears and phobias.

Tom Hanks plays Oskar’s father Thomas, a likable character deliberately played one dimensionally so as to portray Oskar’s feelings and memories of him. Oskar loves everything about his dad from his familiar behavioural quirks, to the ingenious outdoor ‘missions’ that he devises. These are elaborate treasure hunts for Oskar; so when post 9/11 the boy finds an old key of his dad’s without a lock, he sets about investigating its purpose, considering this his father’s final challenge.

Though played with startling passion by rising star Thomas Horn, Oskar makes something of a grating lead character. He carries a tambourine everywhere with which to calm his nerves, but for the audience it’s constant rattle is rather irritating. Sandra Bullock is very believable as Oskar’s widowed mother, and the legendary Max von Sydow is brilliant as a mysterious mute.

The film’s tone is one of intense sincerity, and while that might be necessary to remain reverent of 9/11, it forces the story to a place where it only rarely rings true. Daldry intended that the film be released in time for the tenth anniversary of 9/11, so now unfortunately the story feels belated. Had it been produced sooner after the fact then the film may well have had greater impact, but as it is the effect is dampened.

The world portrayed is one where questions do not always have answers, and where atrocities are as meaningless as Oskar’s efforts to understand them. It is true to life then, but only as perceived by souls living by sight alone. No comfort or consolation is presented, just the need to come to terms with the meaninglessness. This leaves the viewer feeling somewhat empty when the credits roll.

Others have called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the weakest of this year’s Best Picture Oscar nominees, and with good reason. The story is untimely and delivers a mixed message, but the solid performances and harrowing depictions of the World Trade Centre attacks just about make it worth seeing.