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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 15 April 2008

There’s a lot to like about The Painted Veil.  What impressed me most was the complexity of the characters.  It comes as no surprise that this has been adapted from a highly regarded novel.  The late W. Somerset Maugham (The Razor’s Edge) wrote the book and Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) has condensed it into a two hour screenplay.

Set in the 1920s, the story begins in London.  Kitty Garstin (Watts) is a young woman who yearns to escape her overbearing parents.  They want her to find a husband and have threatened to cut her off financially unless she does so soon.  Kitty doesn’t want to marry unless she meets a man that she truly loves.  It sounds like something out of a Jane Austen novel, doesn’t it?

At a social gathering, Kitty meets a scientist named Dr. Walter Fane (Norton).  Fane is smitten with Kitty and the very next day, he asks her to be his wife.  A shocked Kitty sizes up the situation.  She can either marry this man she knows nothing about or risk living the rest of her life with her domineering family.  Kitty takes a chance and accepts his proposal.

In turns out that Kitty and Walter are as different as chalk and cheese.  Walter is a workaholic - obsessed with his study of infectious diseases.  He is always very serious and never seems to have time to do anything fun.  Kitty, on the other hand, loves to socialise.  She tries to get Walter out and about but he is very unwilling.  She feels trapped in a loveless marriage.

In search of something to keep her spirit alive, Kitty has an affair with a high-profile diplomat (Schreiber).  Walter discovers their secret and reacts with bitterness.  Instead of granting her request and giving her a divorce, Walter volunteers their services to help with a cholera outbreak in a remote Chinese village.  They will live in the middle of nowhere and risk their lives to save a small group of non-English speaking strangers.  He wants Kitty to suffer for her infidelity.

Edward Norton and Naomi Watts deliver terrific performances.  You can sense the distain that they have for each other.  You’ll pick this up from the opening scenes which show them travelling through the Chinese countryside.  From the way they speak to each other, you know that things aren’t right.  They are as stubborn as each other and they hate to show any sign of weakness.  It’s a bizarre relationship but fascinating at the same time.

The director of the film is Australian John Curran (Praise).  It was Watts who suggested Curran for the project after they worked together in 2004’s We Don’t Live Here Anymore.  The production team looked all over China to find the right place to film the movie.  After getting all the necessary approvals from the China Film Bureau, they settled on a tiny village called Mei-tan-fu in Southern China.  It’s a beautiful setting. 

It’s taken a long time for The Painted Veil to reach Australia cinemas.  It was released in the United States way back in December 2006.  As a movie soundtrack fan, I’ve been looking forward to seeing the film since it won the Golden Globe for best score (music) in January 2007.  It has finally arrived and the wait has been worth it.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 03 April 2008

Lars Lindstrom (Gosling) is single 27-year-old guy.  He lives with his older brother, Gus (Schneider), and his pregnant sister-in-law, Karin (Mortimer).  He has a regular job, goes to Church every Sunday and is well liked by everyone in the small town.  He sounds like the perfect catch for a young woman looking for love.  In fact, there’s a cute girl from work named Margo (Garner) is trying hard to get his attention.

The problem for Margo is that Lars has an extremely introverted personality, particularly when it comes to dealing with women.  He actually lives out in the garage (separate from the main house) so that he can avoid interacting with his brother and his wife.  He is a very private person.  Lars’s mother died at childbirth and he was raised as a child by his father and brother.  Could this have something to do with how he turned out?

One day, Lars knocks on the front door of the house and tells Gus and Karin that he’s met a girl named Bianca.  Their initial excitement turns to shock horror when Lars brings her over for an introduction.  Bianca is a sex doll that Lars ordered over the internet!  Lars keeps her in a wheelchair and talks to her as if he were a real person.  Gus and Karin don’t know what to think.  The local psychiatrist (Clarkson) suggests they go along with the façade or else it might further upset Lars’s fragile mental condition.

Soon enough, Lars is taking Bianca everywhere with him.  He takes her to church, he takes her to parties and he takes her on romantic drives.  He even has photos of her at his desk at work.  Everyone in the town starts following the lead of Gus and Karin in pretending that she’s real.  No one has the guts to tell the likeable Lars what they really think so they let the charade continue.  How long can this go on for though?  Is this a permanent condition or will Lars eventually realise what’s going on?

It’s a strange idea for a movie but it deserves a huge wrap for its originality.  Writer Nancy Oliver was nominated for best original screenplay at the Oscars earlier this year (but Diablo Cody’s Juno script went on to win).  This bizarre scenario provides a lot of room for good jokes.  Some of the best scenes involve people meeting Bianca for the first time.  There’s an emotional impact as well – whilst you may laugh at Lars, you feel sympathetic towards him and the people around him at the same time.

As you’d expect, Ryan Gosling (The Notebook) is terrific the leading role.  His character could easy look foolish (talking to a sex doll all day) but Gosling is believable.  It’s hard to describe how but trust me, he is!  The supporting cast are also wonderful.  They include the underrated Emily Mortimer (Match Point), the underrated Paul Schneider (All The Real Girls) and the underrated Patricia Clarkson (Pieces Of April).

I was surprised to learn that the director of the film is an Aussie.  Craig Gillespie (whose only other credit to date was the forgettable Mr. Woodcock) moved to New York when he was 19 years old and studied film at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.  Having made television commercials for the last few years, Gillespie has stepped up to plate and taken a swing at being a feature film director.  With Lars And The Real Girl, he’s hit a home run.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 15 April 2008

Seeing the trailers for Prom Night reminded me of Wes Craven’s Scream trilogy.  The first Scream film was released back in 1996 and starred David Arquette, Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox.  It was the story of an unidentified psychopath who was killing school students in a small, California town.  The Scream movies deserve to be included in any list of great horror films.  They’re terrific.

It’s been 8 years since the final film was released and many of today’s teenagers would be unaware that the trilogy even exists.  Writer J.S. Cardone (The Covenant) has felt that it’s time for audiences to be treated to another teen horror movie.  Prom Night will feel new for some viewers.  I’m sure plenty of young moviegoers will pack movie theatres to see it.  As for me, I’ve seen this all before and it offers nothing new whatsoever. 

For Donna Keppel (Snow), tonight should be one of the best nights of her life.  It’s her high school formal and the night has been carefully planed.  She’s being accompanied by her picture-perfect boyfriend (Porter), she’s arriving with her friends in a huge stretch limousine and she’s spending the night in a luxurious hotel suite.  All’s good for Donna.

Well actually, it’s not.  A year ago, there was a school teacher named Richard Fenton (Schaech) who became obsessed with Donna.  When he realised that she wouldn’t return his affections, he came to her house and murdered her family.  He was found to be insane at the court trial and was placed in a mental institution.  Donna now lives with her aunt and uncle.

Can you guess what will happen next?  That’s right, Fenton escapes from the nut house and goes looking of Donna.  His desire to be with her hasn’t diminished.  He turns up the hotel, checks into a room on the same floor and waits for her to arrive.  He’s prepared to kill anyone who gets in his way.  The police are doing their best to help but from what I saw, they couldn’t catch a cold let alone a psychopathic killer.

I see that Prom Night topped the box-office in the U.S. last weekend and took in $22.7m.  Considering that the film cost roughly $18m to make, you’ll have to agree that it is a success.  People have been enticed by the trailers and advertisements.  They’ve put their money on the counter and asked for a ticket.  Well done to the film’s investors.

If I had my way however, I’d see this film sent straight to video.  It’s awful.  The plot is terrible and it uses tired, familiar formulas.  The killer always seems to be able to find a way to sneak around and pop up at just the right moment to kill someone.  It’s as if he’s both psychic and psychopathic.  There’s a cool party trick.  The guy looks suspicious from the moment he walks into the hotel and I can’t explain why the staff don’t think the same way.

I couldn’t sleep after seeing Prom Night.  That’s not because I was scared by the movie but because I was scared by the thought that they may make a sequel.  Please god, noooooooooooo!

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 29 March 2008

I can remember when I started reviewing movies (back in 1996), that you’d only see a handful of foreign language movies released each year.  Times have changed.  The Palace Centro Cinemas at New Farm recently hosted the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival.  38 French films were screened over 10 days.  Many of these screenings were sold out.

If you weren’t able to make it along, don’t worry.  A few of the movies that screened will be receiving a wider release over the coming weeks.  The first cab off the rank is The Secret Of The Grain.

For those who see a lot of French movies, you might be in for a surprise with this one.  It’s very long (151 minutes), centres on an Arab family living in France and features a bunch of non-professional actors with no prior experience.  You’re probably asking yourself – why is being released?  The reason is because it is a good film and has been well reviewed across the globe.  It won the Cesar Award for best film (the French equivalent of the Oscars) and was singled out for a special jury prize at the prestigious Venice Film Festival.

It’s the story of a 60-year-old named Slimane (Boufares) who is not happy with the way his life has turned out.  He’s worked his entire life at the shipyards but has slowly found himself made redundant.  There just isn’t as much work as there used to be.  He’s worried that he won’t be able to provide for his family in the long-run and that he has been a disappointment to them up until now.

Slimane is a quiet man who keeps to himself.  He does what people ask of him with minimal fuss and without ever complaining.  It’s a terrific performance from Habib Boufares who has never appeared in a movie before.  I respected him but felt sorry for him at the same time.  He’s just an ordinary man living an ordinary life.  I really wanted things to get better for him.

After decades of working for others, Slimane decides to roll the dice and take a chance.  He uses all his savings to buy an old, rundown boat.  He wants to give it a complete refurbishment and turn it into a floating restaurant.  His family are 100% behind him and will do whatever it takes to help him out.  All their efforts go into a huge opening gala night where some influential people have been invited.  It’s an event which could make or break him.

As I’ve already indicated, this is an unusual film.  I can see it annoying some viewers.  For example, there’s a scene which goes for about 10 minutes where the whole family sits around the dining table and share a huge luncheon feast.  They just talk about their lives and what’s been happening.  Whilst the film does tend to drag at times (particularly the ending), I liked this approach.  You get a true sense of what the family is like.  It’s as if I was watching a documentary.

I don’t know who to recommend this film to and I think it will struggle at the Australian box-office.  Still, there’s not a lot of great stuff out at the moment and this is better than most movies currently screening.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 07 April 2008

Semi-Pro is your typical Will Ferrell movie.  That’s the easiest way of describing it.  If you’ve watched Blades Of Glory, Talladega Nights or Anchorman, you’ll know exactly what to expect.  In all four movies, you’ll see (1) Will Ferrell dressing up, (2) Will Ferrell deliberately over acting and (3) Will Ferrell getting laughs from playing an idiotic character.

This time around, he’s playing a 70s basketball player named Jackie Moon.  Moon is the captain, coach and owner of a basketball team known as the Flint Michigan Tropics.  They compete in the American Basketball Association League (ABA).  Jackie loves the sport but he loves himself even more.  If there’s a way of getting himself in front of a microphone or a camera, he’ll find it.

The problem for Jackie is that interest in his team is starting to wain.  They’ve been losing consistently and crowd numbers for home games are at record lows.  Jackie thinks his problems are solved when the ABA agree to merge with the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the end of the year.  The top 4 teams in the ABA will get to join the new league but the remaining teams will be dissolved.  If Jackie can get the Tropics into the top 4, then his team will survive and he can realise his dream of playing in the more high-profile NBA.

To help improve their on-field performance, Jackie brings in a new player.  His name is Monix (Harrelson) and he comes with a shaky reputation.  He seems more interested in stalking his ex-girlfriend (Lynn) than playing basketball.  Also of concern for Jackie is the fact that his team must average a home crowd of 2,000 people per game or else they won’t be considered for the NBA.  He needs to find a way of attracting fans.

This is a bizarre movie.  I laughed quite a bit but it wasn’t because of its intelligent, witty humour.  I laughed at how crazy the whole scenario is.  Some of the scenes are strange to say the least.  The scene at the poker table is a good example.  Looking back on the film, I’d swear that Will Ferrell’s character had Tourette’s Syndrome.  He’d be talking normally and then throw in some completely random profanity.  It’s childish humour but I couldn’t help but smile.

It’ll be interesting to see how long Will Ferrell continues with these types of movies.  He’s tried to branch out into more meaningful films (such as Stranger Than Fiction and The Producers) but he somehow ends up making another low-brow comedy where you have to have your brain switched to the “off” position to sit through it.  I’m not complaining since I think that Ferrell has talent both as an actor and a comedian.  I just don’t want to see him end up like, say, a Chevy Chase.  We’ll see.