FILMS .... with Tim Milfull
The Concert (M)
Director: Radu Mihaileanu
Stars: Aleksei Guskov, Mélanie Laurent, Dmitri Nazarov, Valeriy Barinov, Miou-Miou
Rating: 5/5
118-minutes, screening from April 29
This film isn’t even out yet and I’ve been lucky enough to see it twice at previews – and the repeat viewing confirmed that this little film about harmony is simply superb.
Aleksei Guskov plays Andreï Filipov, a disgraced master conductor who hasn’t taken up the baton since the early 80s. A broken man chasing long-lost memories, Andreï cleans the halls of his beloved Bolshoi Concert Hall; that is until he happens upon a fax inviting the Bolshoi Orchestra to perform at the mighty Chatelet Concert Hall in Paris. Seizing on the opportunity, Andreï wipes any record of the fax and sets about reassembling his forgotten musicians.
Traipsing all over Moscow with his best friend, first cello Sascha (Dmitri Nazarov), Andreï finds the players in the strangest places, and convinces an old enemy to facilitate the performance. A new element comes in the form of violin virtuoso, Anne-Marie Jacquet (Mélanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds infamy) to perform the Tchaikovsky solo.
The Concert is so much more than the very funny caper film promised in its trailer, with delicious red herrings and elements of tragedy, romance, and hope threaded through a narrative that carries the bitter weight of a decaying former Soviet empire. Romanian director, Radu Mihaileanu has assembled a superb ensemble cast headed by the self-effacing Guskov, and the film’s crew deserve kudos for the beautiful imagery and editing. The final concerto performed in full had our audience applauding a triumph of music and montage.
Rough Diamond in a rare if raw gem
44 Inch Chest (TBC)
Director: Malcolm Venville
Stars: Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson, Joanne Whalley
Rating: 4.5/5
95-minutes, screening from April 29
Talking to director Malcolm Venville recently about his debut feature, 44 Inch Chest, the first thing I wanted to know was why the prodigal son – who returned to London after two decades in Los Angeles – would make such a vicious, masculine film, and why women would even consider heading along.
He told me that he had reached a stage in life where he suffered through a few relationships and felt that the script by Louis Mellis and David Scinto (Sexy Beast) had all the elements to make an excellent film, from atmosphere and mania to a notorious East London black humour,
and a unique insight into a broken heart.
The former stills photographer and television commercial director took the expletive-heavy script, assembled a cast including veteran hardball actors Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, and John Hurt, and crafted a brilliant drama about the depths one man will sink to at the hands of the woman he once loved.
Winstone’s Colin Diamond is hauled out of his despair by his little entourage, slapped a few times to straighten him up, and then driven to a decaying Victorian building in the East End to dispense justice upon the man who destroyed his marriage.
44 Inch Chest is raw, violent invective muttered by characters who come from a world that is long-extinct, and each of Colin’s mates offer a crystal sharp edge of his own fractured persona. With Joanne Whalley ably complementing the cast’s masculinity with a pragmatic woman’s touch, this is superb drama.
THE BINGE
Unnerved: The New Zealand Project – open at GoMA from 1st May to 4th July
May 6
The French Kissers (MA15+) available from May 5
Wilfred – Season 2 (MA15+) now available
If you head along to GoMA from this Saturday, you’ll have to work hard to avoid two very large rabbits near the entrance. Created by Kiwi sculptor, Michael Parekowhai, their names are Cosmo and Jim McMurtry, and they herald GoMa’s latest exhibition, Unnerved: The New Zealand Project, which asks us to consider the rich vein of dark, disturbing and often very funny art that has emerged from the Land of the Long White Cloud over the last few decades. I’ll be interviewing one of the curators this week, and hope to bring you more about the Cinematheque’s New Zealand Noir programme, so keep your eyes peeled, bro.
Veteran French director, Bertrand Tavernier enters new territory in his latest film, In the Electric Mist, collaborating with the craggy Tommy Lee Jones on a project that dips in and out of the Civil War, sixties bigotry, and contemporary serial killing. This one is a quite satisfying, tense thriller.
On a lighter note, Raid Sattouf offers a realistic, but quirky take on the coming-of-age film with The French Kissers, a story about a young man struggling to find his place in high school as he battles a set of hormonal tsunamis. This film isn’t anything like American Pie or the Porky’s soft-porn, and works just as well for adolescents as adults, although there are certainly moments where both audiences will be cringing in embarrassment.
And finally, if you haven’t met Wilfred, your life is not complete. This second SBS series (pictured above) features the eponymous man in a dog suit (Jason Gann), some dodgy multi-species shenanigans, a lot of marijuana, and the often bemused Adam (Adam Zwar) dealing with Wilfred’s myriad malapropisms and a unique take on the world.
