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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 09 June 2013

It takes some encouragement from her daughter but Anne (Magi) is ready for a fresh start. Her mother recently passed away, her kids have moved out of home and she’s been divorced for a decade. There’s nothing keeping her Estonia and so she’s decided to accept a position as a live-in carer in Paris. She studied French in college but this will be her first trip to France’s capital city.

Anne has been employed by a man named Stéphane (Pineau) to look after an elderly woman named Frida (Moreau). Their connection is not made clear at first but we learn that these two were once lovers. It was a short lived affair and the two have remained close friends ever since. Frida professes that, along with her late husband, he’s one of only two men that she’s ever cared about.

Stéphane doesn’t provide much in the way of instruction to Anne and she quickly discovers that this will not be an easy assignment. Frida is a wealthy lady with a beautiful Parisian apartment… but she’s also rude, stubborn and reclusive. On her first full day, Anne does what she is asked and prepares croissants and tea for breakfast. Frida isn’t happy though. She scoffs that the croissants taste like plastic and she tips the tea on the floor.

I’m sure there are many elderly folk that will never change. We don’t often see them in movies however. We prefer stories about those who have an epiphany. They suddenly appreciate the richness of life and the value of good company. I speak of films such as Driving Miss Daisy, Gran Torino and The Visitor.

In this case, a trust starts to develop between Frida and Anne. They come from very different backgrounds but deep inside, they’re both realise that they’re lonely people looking for someone who will listen. In the words of Humphrey Bogart – “this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.”

There’s not much more to it than that. With only three characters of note, this is a simple, agreeable, dialogue-driven tale. It’s not preachy and for the most part, it’s not filled with artificial drama. An icon of French cinema, 85-year-old Jeanne Moreau delivers a tender performance as the grouchy yet insecure Frida. She is well supported by Laine Mägi and it’s a nice touch to see her character walking the streets of Paris by night and exploring the city’s wonders for the first time.

There’s a subplot late in the film involving Frida’s past involvement with an Estonian choir that feels a little forced, messy. It detracts only slightly from what is a warm-hearted piece of French cinema.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 27 May 2013

He owns a lavish mansion on Long Island that is impeccably maintained by a small army of servants. He drives around in his state-of-the-art motor vehicle while wearing his beautifully tailored suits. He throws extravagant parties filled with fireworks, music and a never-ending stream of alcohol. You don’t even need an invitation to attend!

But who is Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio)? How can he afford all of this? Why is he so generous? Why does he hide alone in the upper floors of his mansion while everyone is partying below? The man who knows the answers is the man telling the story – Nick Carraway (Maguire). Several years have passed since that exciting summer of 1922 and Carraway, now being treated for alcoholism in a sanatorium, is recounting the story to his doctor.

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald could have never imagined that his novel would one day become a blockbuster movie playing to packed audiences across the globe. At the time of his death in 1940, only 25,000 copies of his novel had been acquired. It wasn’t until World War II that it started to become a “must have” addition to any bookshelf.

As of today, an estimated 25 million copies have been sold. One of those found their way into the hands of Australian director Baz Lurhmann. Having already proven that he can adapt a classic piece of literature (Romeo & Juliet in 1996) and bring colour to a long-forgotten era (Moulin Rouge in 2001), Lurhmann decided to the raise the bar even higher. He wanted to take F. Scott Fitzgerald’s much-loved masterpiece (as it is now known) and transform it into something equally memorable on the big screen.

Has he succeeded? The answer to that question is “no” but it comes with an asterisk. Luhrmann picks up plenty of marks for way in which he has brought this world to life. It’s the first time he’s taken advantage of 3D technology and when you throw in the extravagant sets, costumes and visual effects, it's as if you’re watching a moving painting. New York in the 1920s could not look any more beautiful.

There are numerous themes within The Great Gatsby but central to it all is Gatsby’s quest to win the heart of Daisy Buchanan (Mulligan), a young lady who has been his obsession for many years. If he can convince Daisy to leave her athletic, well-to-do husband (Edgerton), Gatsby believes they will spend the rest of their lives in utopia.

This is where the film underachieves. It is missing the most important ingredient – emotion. With both Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge, I can remember being reduced to tears (well, moist eyes at the very least) by their tragic tales of star-crossed lovers.

This too is a tragic tale but, put simply, I did not care about the characters. Nick Carraway is full of profound thoughts but he’s too much of a goofy bystander. Daisy Buchanan has the looks but it’s hard to see the attraction given her bland personality. As for Jay Gatsby, there’s nothing subtle about his deeply insecure demeanour and the way he says “old sport” one too many times.

It’s interesting that despite the lukewarm reception from critics in the United States, The Great Gatsby is thriving at the international box-office. Perhaps audiences are tiring of animated features and superhero movies. They’re looking for films with real people and real storylines. I’m thrilled that Baz has produced another crowd-pleaser. I only wish I was part of that crowd.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 05 June 2013

We haven’t seen a lot of documentaries released in Brisbane cinemas this year. By my count, Ping Pong is just the 4^th. It’s a peculiar choice in the sense that it hasn’t come with much fanfare. It has won no major awards of note and has an Internet Movie Database score of just 6.7 out of 10 (not particularly flash).

Perhaps they’re trying to cater for those, myself included, who have short attention spans. Ping Pong clocks in at just 76 minutes. I can’t think of another release over the past year with such a low running time.

Getting to the film itself… Ping Pong is a straight forward, no frills documentary that follows a group of table tennis players in the lead up the 2010 World Championships in China. So what’s so special about these particular players? The answer is their age. This is a special event for those who have reached the ripe old age of 80. In fact, there’s a player from Australia (Dorothy De Low) who recently celebrated her 100^th birthday! That’s pretty damn cool.

It’s interesting to hear their perspectives on the value of table tennis. First and foremost, it’s provided them with a way of staying active. There’s one competitor who entered a nursing home in 1997 and yet now, at the age of 89, is entering the world championships for the first time. It’s also funny to see how competitive they still are. There’s one lady who seems to be on an obsessive quest to add to her expansive gold medal collection back home.

It’s a curious subject matter but I had the feeling that more could have been achieved by director Hugh Hartford. We rush through the table tennis scenes and they don’t generate much excitement. We don’t even get to see the scores – we just know if the player has won based on the final point. It’s nice to delve into the background of these competitors but the film also veers off on some strange tangents. Why did we need to be shown a room in a nursing home where dead bodies are stored?

Table tennis isn’t a huge sport in this country but if Ping Pong inspires a few older folk to get busy and get into the game… that can only be a good thing.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 26 May 2013

About 30 minutes into this film, a person sitting behind me in the cinema whispered to their friend – “this is like watching Abbott and Costello”. I was thinking more along the lines of The Three Stooges but you can probably see the point I’m trying to make – Happiness Never Comes Alone is a light-hearted French film that tries to blend romance with slapstick comedy.

Sacha (Elmaleh) is a casual, laidback musician who likes having fun. By day, he writes jingles for a major advertising company. When asked if he’s done anything memorable, Sacha responds by saying he wrote a split-second piece that plays at train stations over the loudspeakers before announcements are made (in other words, not all that memorable). By night, he’s a pianist at a local jazz club. He turns up, has a few drinks and charms the beautiful women with his gifted fingers (I’m talking about his piano skills).

Sacha is happy with the path he’s taken in life but the arrival of the much older Charlotte (Marceau) will leave him thinking otherwise. The two meet in a scene that can only be described as a humorous farce. Both are leaving work and in pouring rain, they bump into each other on street. Charlotte stumbles (high heels are to blame) and falls into a puddle. On getting up, she tries to salvage the situation but is immediately engulfed in a wave of water as a speeding car drives through the same puddle. Sacha offers her a lift home in his rusty convertible and the saturated Charlotte decides to accept.

There’s an obvious connection between them. If you can’t tell from the look in the eyes, things should click when you see them engage in an exhausting, all-night love making session. It’s not until they’ve fallen for each other when a few interesting truths are revealed – Charlotte is the ex-wife of Sacha’s egotistical boss and she already has three children.

It’s a recipe for trouble and the rest of the film explores their up-and-down relationship. Sacha gets on beautifully well with Charlotte’s kids but is this where he wants to go with his life? What about his plans to create a stage show and travel the world? Should he put these goals on the backburner and take a chance on a woman he has only just met?

We’ve seen this story time-and-time again but there’s a nice chemistry between stars Gad Elmaleh and Sophie Marceau that makes it easy to watch. The slapstick style of comedy used by writer-director James Huth also gives the film a point of differentiation from a regular French rom-com. The goofy, unexpected laughs caught many by surprise at the preview screening I attended.

I’m not quite sure about the abrupt note on which the film decides to end (one subplot in particular was left open-ended) but as one of the more popular releases to come out of the recent French Film Festival here in Australia, Happiness Never Comes Alone can now be enjoyed by a wider audience.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 03 June 2013

Now in its sixth instalment, The Fast & Furious series continues to amaze. I’m not talking about the content of the movies… but rather the faith shown by fans over the past 12 years. When it opened two weeks ago in the United States, Fast & Furious 6 took in $97.4m over its first three days. That’s the biggest opening in the franchise to date and it’s no surprise that a 7^th film is already in production. Star Vin Diesel is hopeful that there’ll be a “trilogy of trilogies”. I’m sure his agent won’t mind either.

When The Fast & The Furious premiered back in 2001, the focus was cars, cars, cars. There’s only so far you can take such a concept and so we’ve seen the series take a graduate shift towards a more generic style of action film. I’m speaking of insane villains, over-the-top storylines and elaborate chase sequences.

At the beginning of Fast & Furious 6, we find our heroes have been travelling across the globe and enjoying their newfound wealth. It’s a nice life but Dom (Diesel), Brian (Walker) and Mia (Brewster) are quickly learning an age old truth – there are some things more important than money. They’d love to be able to return home and catch up with friends over a backyard barbeque but unfortunately, they’re still wanted criminals in the United States.

But wait! There has to be a happy ending, right? Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) pays Dom an unexpected visit. Hobbs speaks about a rogue British Special Forces soldier named Owen Shaw (Evans) who plans on assembling a weapon of mass destruction and using it for villainous purposes. Don’t ask me much more as I’m unsure about the specifics of weapon and his motives.

Since the best of MI6 and the CIA aren’t up to the case (for reasons also never explained), it has fallen on the Fast & Furious gang to save the day. In return, they will be pardoned for their previous crimes and given clear passage to return to the United States. There’s still hope for that backyard barbeque!

I’ve generally been a fan of this series (well, except for the awful Tokyo Drift) but this new instalment is a letdown. It’s a forgettable premise with a forgettable bad guy. I saw this film a week ago and am struggling to remember much more than what I’ve detailed above. It’s nice to see the return of Letty (Rodriguez), thought to have been killed in the fourth film, but there’s not much in the way of new character development.

As for the action scenes, I think they go too far. I support excitement with a dash of realism. That doesn’t include jumping off a speeding car, flying 20m and then catching someone mid-air. That doesn’t include chasing a plane down an airport runaway that goes for roughly 80km. Further, did we really need such fast-paced editing? With so many characters, I often had trouble working out who was fighting and who had the upper hand.

It’s interesting that the scene which generated the most excitement from the audience was the sneak peak of Fast & Furious 7 that features at the start of the closing credits. It highlights the disappointment of what this film “could have been” but brings a sense of anticipation of how fun the next film could be.

You can read my interview with director Justin Lin by clicking here.