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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 August 2008

Walter Vale (Jenkins) is a semi-retired college professor from Connecticut.  He is teaching only one subject this year.  You’ll learn pretty quickly that Walter is a “tired” man.  That’s the best adjective I can come up with.  He doesn’t care much about his job and he does his best to avoid communicating with others.  He’s lives alone and has effectively shut himself off from the rest of the world.

Walter reluctantly has to travel to New York City to present a paper at a conference.  He will stay at an apartment that he has a long-term lease over in Manhattan.  Walter hasn’t spent much time there since his wife passed away a few years ago.

When he turns up, Walter finds two squatters living there.  Tarek (Sleiman) is from Syria and Zainab (Gurira) is from Senegal.  They are illegal immigrants trying to “make a go of it” in the United States.  Tarek and Zainab thought they had rented the apartment legitimately but now learn they were duped.

It is at this point that Walter makes a decision which shapes the rest of the story.  Most people would have kicked them out on the street and never seen them again.  I expected Walter to do the same.  He does not however.  Feeling somewhat sorry for Tarek and Zainab, he lets them stay until they can find a new place.

Over the next few days, they become friends.  Walter is interested in their story and wants to learn more about their past and their time in the United States.  He seems most interested in Tarek’s musical abilities.  Tarek plays the African drum and makes a little money by performing in clubs.  Walter has a love of music but has never been able to play an instrument himself.

Their lives will come to an abrupt halt when Tarek is arrested at New York subway station.  The police have identified him as an illegal immigrant and have taken him to a detention centre awaiting deportation.  Zainab is devastated.  She is worried that Tarek will be sent home to Syria and that she’ll never see him again.  She can’t even visit him at the detention centre since she is an illegal immigrant herself.

Walter immediately hires an immigration lawyer to help Tarek in his fight for freedom.  Turning up on his doorstep a few days later is Tarek’s mother, Mouna (Abbass), who has travelled from Michigan.  Walter tells her that there’s nothing she can do but she vows to stay in New York until her son has been released.  She moves into Walter’s apartment and the two find comfort in each other’s company.

There are parts of this movie that will make you feel great.  They will reaffirm your belief in the goodness of people.  There’s a beautiful scene where Walter takes Mouna to see The Phantom Of The Opera.  He knows she is a fan and he takes her with the hope of lifting her spirits.  I loved the way these two characters interacted.  They’re polite to the point where it is almost annoying.

There are also parts of the movie that will make you feel sad.  This includes the humanitarian message within the story which is conveyed strongly by writer-director Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent).  The images he captures both inside and outside the detention centre show it to be a very depressing place.  There’s also an element of unknowingness.  We only see the centre through Walter’s eyes.  We don’t see what happens to Tarek beyond the visitor’s room.  You’ll get a sense that it’s not pleasant from Tarek’s changing persona.

Central to the entire film is a wonderful performance from Richard Jenkins.  Jenkins has been in a lot of movies but most always as a supporting actor.  His talents are fully utilised in this film and he features in almost every scene.  He doesn’t say a lot but you can always tell what he’s thinking.

Without a doubt, The Visitor is one of the best films I’ve seen so far this year.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 01 August 2008

Brandon King (Phillippe) is a sergeant in the United States Army.  He’s just returned to his family’s home in Texas after a difficult tour of duty in Iraq.  He puts on a brave face but Brandon is a scarred man.  Some of the troops under his command were killed in Iraq and Brandon blames himself for their deaths.  He is struggling to clear these horrifying memories from his mind.

Brandon knows the time has come to get out.  He believes the Iraq war is a lost cause and he’s no longer prepared to risk the lives of himself and his men.  He wants to live a quieter life on his parent’s ranch.  It won’t be that easy however.  When he hands in his resignation notice at the army base, Brandon is “stop-lossed”.

Let me explain this term.  Stop-loss is a policy of the U.S. government and applies to the armed forces.  A military person’s set term of service can be forcibly extended in the interests of national security during times of war.

I’m not questioning this policy.  If the United States were under attack, I can understand the government’s need to use experienced troops to help protect the country.  However, how does it apply to the war in Iraq?  Congress never officially declared it as a “war” and public support for George W. Bush’s actions have been waning.  Should the military be able to force soldiers to return to the Iraqi battlefields against their will?

This new movie from director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry) will have you thinking about these questions.  It certainly opened my eyes to the concept of “stop-loss”.  Peirce is hoping that it will increase awareness of the issue and help get something done.  There have been many protests and legal challenges against the policy but it still remains.

The film follows Brandon’s efforts to have his stop-loss overturned.  There’s more to the story however.  We see Brandon confront his inner-demons and we also see the effect that the war has had on his close friends.  These include those who served with him in Iraq as well as the family members who waited back home.

There’s a lot going on the film… perhaps too much so.  There are certain people who I wanted to know more about but the movie doesn’t delve very deep.  The most significant would be Tommy (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt).  He too was traumatised by the war and is now on a lonely path of self-destruction.

Whilst it is a bit wishy-washy at times, I did like Stop-Loss for its ending and its overall message.  The performances are great also.  Ryan Phillippe (Crash) continues to develop as an actor and Australian Abbie Cornish (Candy) is great in her biggest role to date.  Iraq war films are a turn-off for some people (as box-office figures show) but this will appreciated by those interested in the subject matter.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 August 2008

Persepolis is one of the finest animated films ever made.  I don’t think I’ve seen another film this year which has left such an emotional impact.  That said, it’s going to be tough for me to convince some moviegoers to see it.  This is because (1) the style of animation looks basic, (2) it’s in black and white, and (3) it’s French with English subtitles.

Wait!  Don’t stop reading just yet.  Let me tell you more about the film.  The central character is a girl named Marjane.  She was born in 1969 and the story follows her upbringing in Iran.  Marjane was always taught by her parents to be open-minded.  This made life very difficult for her under Iran’s suppressive political regime.  People couldn’t drink alcohol.  People couldn’t have parties.  People couldn’t even own playing cards.  The lack of civil liberties was even worse if you were a woman.

This story isn’t one of fiction.  It’s based on the autobiographical graphic novels which were written by Marjane Satrapi.  Satrapi created this movie adaptation with the help of fellow comic book writer Vincent Paronnaud.  Her books have been read by many people but the medium of cinema now allows Satrapi to tell her story to a wider audience.  Most importantly, she’s been able to do it her own way – in black and white with simple, hand-drawn animation.

It’s taken a while for the film to reach Australia and so it already comes with much acclaim.  It won a special jury prize when it premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.  It was also nominated for best animated film at the 2008 Academy Awards but it lost out to Ratatouille.  Just two weeks ago, the film won the audience award right here at the Brisbane International Film Festival.  There are a lot of people, myself included, who love this film.

The story is compelling but the movie’s style deserves praise.  Drawing the film in black and white gives it a dark, menacing tone.  The “bad guys” are actually quite scary.  You never quite feel at ease – you’ll feel a connection with Marjane and her parents but at the same time, you sense that something bad is going to happen to them.  Olivier Bernet’s film score helps build the tension.  I love a good ending and whether you like it or not, I think this film ends on a perfect note.

This one film I will remember for many years to come.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 30 July 2008

There’s no justice like vigilante justice.  I guess that went through the minds of those people behind this film.  Taken is a ludicrous action-thriller about a guy who kills just about everyone in pursuit of his kidnapped daughter.  Hmmm, the things we do for family…

Bryan Mills (Neeson) is our central figure.  He’s divorced and he lives alone.  He also seems to be very paranoid.  When his 17-year-old daughter (Grace) tells him that she’s going with a friend to France for a holiday, Bryan freaks out.  He doesn’t think she’s old enough to be travelling overseas.  The world is not a safe place.

It turns out that he’s right.  His daughter is kidnapped by a bunch of Albanians within hours of landing in Paris.  Who could have predicted that?  Anyway, Bryan knows his daughter is in trouble because he was on the phone with her as events unfolded.  He heard her screams and the foreign accents of those who took her.

These bad guys don’t know who they’re messing with.  It turns out that Bryan was once a spy for the U.S. government.  Once you’ve seen him in action, you’ll realise he’s got all the skills of Jason Bourne.  The only difference is that he has a few more wrinkles.

Bryan jumps on plane to Paris and immediately starts tracking down the kidnappers.  He does so with brute force.  You’ll find out quickly enough that he’s not afraid to harm or kill.  All he wants is to find his daughter.

I must say this is a strange role for Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List, Michael Collins).  It’s a stock standard action movie with few surprises.  I’d have thought he’d have gone for a script with a little more depth.  That said, he’s the best thing in this film.  The passion and relentlessness he brought to his character had me rooting for him.

I don’t have quite as much admiration for the screenwriters.  As I’ve already indicated, Taken is a movie which takes no chances.  We’ve seen this before and I’m sure we’ll see it again.  Bryan gets himself out of one too many perilous situations.  How long can he keep dodging bullets?  How long can he keep defeating large groups of armed men?  How long can he keep predicting how his adversaries will next act?

The bottom line is that the film lacks suspense.  I wouldn’t call it waste of time but I don’t think it’s a film you’ll remember too much about in a week’s time.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 05 August 2008

Pineapple Express is a fun “buddy comedy” from writers Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.  These are the guys who were helped create Superbad and Knocked Up.  They’ve got a knack for comedy and the popularity of their previous works will ensure that Pineapple Express is another success story.

Rogen takes a feature role in the film – just like he did in Superbad and Knocked Up.  His name is Dale Denton and his job is to deliver subpoenas.  It’s not the most stimulating occupation but Dale doesn’t mind.  He has a car full of disguises and he enjoys sneaking up on unsuspecting people.  Most of all, his job allows him to do what he really loves – smoking weed.  When he first meet Dale, we see him puffing away in his car and promoting that fact on a talk-back radio show.

Dale gets his stash from Saul Silver (Franco), a small-time drug dealer who operates out his home.  I’m not sure how much money Saul makes because he seems to be smoking a large quantity of the product himself.  There’s a scene early in the film where the two get “high” together and it makes for a very amusing conversation.

Their two separate worlds come crashing together when Dale goes to serve a subpoena on a man named Ted Jones (Cole).  Waiting outside his house, Dale looks through the window and sees Ted kill an Asian guy with the help of a female police officer.  Dale freaks out.  In a state of panic, he flees the scene and heads to Saul’s place.  His actions did not go unnoticed.  It turns out that Ted Jones is a very powerful drug lord and he wants to make sure that Dale doesn’t get a chance to tell anyone about what he saw.

What follows is a crazy series of events where Dale and Saul try to evade Ted’s hired goons.  They continue to smoke throughout the whole ordeal which makes it rather amusing.  Helping balance the film’s silliness are some touching moments where Dale and Saul realise the significance of their friendship.  It was reminiscent of some of the themes touched on in Superbad.  There are also a few plot twists which spoof the action genre in a vein similar to Austin Powers. 

Seth Rogen and James Franco are terrific.  Franco is particularly good in a challenging role.  He has to play a drugged-up bum with little comprehension of the world around him.  On top of that, he has to make his character comical.  Also worthy of mention is Gary Cole (Office Space) who plays Ted Jones.  Cole is a master at player supporting characters and is one of the most underappreciated actors in the business.

The bottom line is that Pineapple Express is smart and funny.  You’ll enjoy it whether you’re taking drugs or not.