Films ... with Tim Milfull
Invictus (PG)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon
Rating: 4/5
133-minutes, screening from tomorrow, Jan 21
Veteran voice Morgan Freeman has been trying to make a film about legendary politician and leader Nelson Mandela for decades. Rather than documenting his entire life, Freeman chose a specific “chapter” to tell a larger story, which is becoming something of a tradition in the production of biopics.
In Mandela’s case, Freeman chose John Carlin’s book, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, an account of South Africa’s road to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. In the first few years after his release from Robben Island, the new President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) quickly realised that one of his biggest challenges was balancing the momentum of his people’s power – almost forty-million non-whites – with the risk of losing or entirely alienating the new minority: the former Afrikaans nation.
One of the key symbols of Apartheid power was the Springboks rugby team, with its flag, name, and colours. In fact, at international games non-whites in South Africa delighted in cheering on anyone but the ’boks.
So one of the first orders of business for the ANC was the renaming and rebadging of the national football team. In a far-reaching decision, Mandela intervened during the voting process, and convinced his government that such a move would be a mistake.
Mandela called on the captain of the Springboks – Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) – to lead by example, and the somewhat befuddled captain initially struggled to galvanise his teammates into a winning style. In fact, the Springboks were only playing in the Cup because they were the host nation. This is a simple story with a complex background, and Freeman’s roles as executive producer and leading man are ably complemented by the elegant direction of his mate, Clint Eastwood. The result is a stirring, exciting, and inspiring triumph.
Director shines with loopy shenanigans
In the Loop (MA15+)
Director: Armando Iannucci
Stars: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander
Rating: 4/5
106-minutes, screening from Jan 21
A conflicting sense of disappointment and excitement comes with the discovery that something that’s been flying under my radar, and Armando Iannucci’s In the Loop is a perfect example – disappointed at the thought of having missed out on so much, and excited at the prospect of finding out what else he has made.
Iannucci has solid history in satire, writing, producing, and starring in his own comedies, and working alongside heavyweights such as Steve Coogan on The Alan Partridge Show, which is criminally difficult to find in Australia. In a series called The Thick of It, Iannucci revived a public passion for backroom shenanigans that was once glorified in Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. T
his mutant British version of The West Wing ignored all the gloss and glamour of politics and celebrity, concentrating on foul-mouthed powerbrokers like Whitehall Director of Communications, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi). Only Tucker makes the transition to the big screen, and even though he is such a larger-than-life figure, Tucker is now just one member of an ensemble cast.
The director’s latest minefield involves an incompetent junior minister – Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) – who inadvertently has let slip that an international coalition is planning to invade a Middle Eastern country. Sound familiar? Of course, the evidence justifying such action is a little more difficult to obtain, and Foster and his underlings are caught up in a maelstrom of political intrigue, as various shadowy figures manoeuvre behind the scenes.
As a series of innocuous comments from Foster are blown out of all proportion, Tucker is forced to spin the implications and splatter the walls of Whitehall, the West Wing, and the United Nations with his bitter invective.
Iannucci’s hilarious impression of Gulf War II features standout performances from James Gandolfino and David Rasche, but In the Loop will always be remembered for Peter Capaldi’s loathsome Tucker – something like Paul Keating on PCP.
Good idea blurred in making
Law Abiding Citizen (MA15+)
Director: F. Gary Gray
Stars: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx
Rating: 2.5/5
108-minutes, screening from Jan 28
Jamie Foxx has top billing in this action-vengeance thriller, but I think that the wrong character prevails in Law Abiding Citizen. Foxx plays Assistant District Attorney Nick Rice whose conviction rate is so close to perfect he’ll make all kinds of compromises to keep it from dropping.
When he tries a case involving the murder of a mother and daughter, Rice makes a plea bargain with the defence to put one man behind the bars and the other on death row. The problem is that the bereft husband and father – Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) – cannot come to terms with Rice’s machinations. In his view, both crims deserve the needle – there is no grey. Jump forward 10 years, and Rice is nearing the pinnacle of his career.
When the home invader he once put on death row experiences a particularly gruesome execution, the authorities quickly determine that the man was murdered by someone other than the state. Enter Clyde Shelton, who has been rather quiet in the last few years. It appears the aggrieved widower has a score to settle with anyone who stood between him and justice for his murdered family.
Unfortunately, Clyde is no ordinary hubbie – that much is obvious in the opening scenes when we see him wielding a soldering iron – the man is an inventor who has worked in some shadowy territory since the destruction of his family. And he plans to use all of his new skills to make everyone pay.
While Butler is treading a similar path to Charles Bronson here, the ethical implications in Law Abiding Citizen are unsatisfying and blurry. Director F. Gary Gray takes an interesting idea and overcomplicates it with explosions and intrigue.
