Archive
SPENCER – Jonny Greenwood
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car accident in Paris in August 1997 was a turning point in British contemporary culture. It shifted the perception of Diana in the public eye permanently – from fairytale princess to working royal, to wronged woman, to something approaching a martyr – while simultaneously changing the opinion of the royal family as a whole. The air of untouchable mystique that surrounded Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and the others, was irreparably shattered in the weeks after Diana’s death, mostly because of the apparent callousness and emotionlessness of their response to it all; the family’s tradition of keeping their personal opinions to themselves came across as cold, and the British public – who were grieving ‘the people’s princess’ – felt let down in a time when comfort from a monarch was needed by many. The repercussions of all this are still felt today, not least in terms of the contrasting press coverage of Diana’s sons William and Harry, and their respective spouses Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, and much of this is what forms the backbone of the film Spencer, directed by Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín. Read more…
THE POWER OF THE DOG – Jonny Greenwood
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The Power of the Dog is the latest film by acclaimed director Jane Campion. It’s adapted from the 1967 novel of the same name by Thomas Savage, and is ostensibly a western – it’s set on a remote cattle ranch in Montana in 1925 – but that’s not really what the film is about. It’s a film about relationships; between brothers, between lovers, between mothers and sons. It’s also a film about toxic masculinity – what it means to be a man in those times, and the lengths to which one will go to prove your masculinity to others. It’s a film about loneliness and isolation – both physically in terms of geography, but also emotionally, and what that does to a person. And, ultimately, it’s an exploration of gender and sexuality in that harsh, bleak setting, and how all those things manifest in the inter-personal dynamics of the people experiencing them. Read more…
YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE – Jonny Greenwood
Original Review by Anže Grčar
When the discussion arises about which are some of the finest female directors working in industry today, the name of Lynne Ramsay is seldomly brought up into the conversation by fellow film aficionados, much to my great disappointment – her selectiveness and large gaps between mainly auteur, art house driven projects that never elicited a major box office turnout may have something to do with mainstream never taking her work to the heart. Indeed, the 48 year old Glasgow native has only four feature credits under her belt – albeit four great ones. Since the release of her debut Ratcatcher back in 1999, she has been an indie darling, notorious for making the film on her own terms (the production history of nearly aborted Jane Got The Gun project speaks for itself) and it shows. You Were Never Really Here, starring the exceptional Joaquin Phoenix in the title role and who won the Best Actor Award in Cannes, is a follow up to much discussed We Need To Talk About Kevin in which Tilda Swinton churned out her career best work (much like Phoenix in this case), and finally arrives after seven year gap between her previous feature, riding on the wave of ecstatic Cannes reviews where Ramsay also received a “Best Screenplay” award. The project seems way overdue for Ramsay fans – but if it takes so many years for her to forge another film of this kind of magnitude, I’ll gladly keep myself busy seven years more. Read more…
PHANTOM THREAD – Jonny Greenwood
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Phantom Thread is a period romantic drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Set in England in the 1950s, it stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock, a fashion designer and exquisite dressmaker, who runs a high-end haute couture business with his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville), and whose regular clients include the cream of European royalty. Reynolds is brilliant, an artist of tremendous skill and taste, but is also neurotic, difficult, irritable, and unhealthily obsessed with his late mother; he also frequently embarks on fiery relationships with women that fizzle out as soon as he gets bored, upon which he begins treating them with casual disdain. One day Reynolds meets Alma (Vicky Krieps), a shy waitress, to whom he is unexpectedly attracted. Before long Reynolds has moved Alma into his house in London, and she quickly becomes his muse, challenging him, confounding him, but also inspiring greatness in his work. However, their relationship is tempestuous, and before long it is heading down an unexpectedly dark path which may have serious repercussions for everyone involved. Read more…
THE MASTER – Jonny Greenwood
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Despite living in Los Angeles, and despite being a very casual acquaintance of someone who I know for a fact is one, I know very little about Scientology. You occasionally see them set up on Hollywood Boulevard, offering ‘stress tests’ to unsuspecting tourists, and you hear odd stories about Tom Cruise in the tabloid news, but beyond that my actual knowledge of the details of the late L. Ron Hubbard’s much-derided ‘celebrity religion’ is sketchy at best – little more than lurid tales of science fiction, aliens, past lives, and the like. In Paul Thomas Anderson’s film The Master, the word ‘scientology’ is never uttered, but it’s clear what is going on, and the film is a less-than-pretty expose of the origins of the religion. Read more…
THERE WILL BE BLOOD – Jonny Greenwood
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most critically acclaimed motion pictures of 2007, director Paul Thomas Anderson’s dramatic character study There Will Be Blood is based on the 1927 novel “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair, and charts the beginnings of the California oil industry. Daniel Day Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, a single-minded and opportunistic businessman who, through a combination of bullying, charm, and actual genuine hard work, sets himself up as an oil baron. However, despite his financial and business success, Plainview remains a man with little else in his life, and his ruthless actions make him numerous enemies. Things come to a head when Plainview locks horns with the god-fearing Sunday family, whose land Plainview covets, and whose eldest son Eli (Paul Dano) proves to be more than a match for Plainview’s intimidating ways. The film, which also stars Ciarán Hinds, Kevin J. O’Connor and Dillon Freasier, had been the recipient of a huge amount of critical praise, and looks sure to be a major player at the 2007 Academy Awards. Read more…
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