August 29th
The Nightingale
Amazing Grace
Dragged Across Concrete

This week sees another unmissable film (two unmissables, two weeks in a row!) Music lovers prepare to be wowed, and fans of hard-core crime with corrupt cops can get their fix.  

The Nightingale
Director: Jennifer Kent
Length: 136 min

© Transmission - a searingly brutal, truthful
and beautiful film. 

Clare (Aisling Franciosi) is a young Irish convict woman in Van Diemen's Land in 1825. She is servant to Lt Hawkins (Sam Claflin), an arrogant violent man in charge of a rag-tag bunch of British military. Among the soldiers is the equally brutish Ruse (Damon Herriman). Clare keeps asking for her freedom, having served her time. Instead of getting freedom, a most heinous crime is perpetrated upon her and her family. Hell-bent upon revenge, she teams up with Aboriginal tracker Billy (Baykali  Ganambarr) and together they trek through the Tasmanian wilderness on the trail of those who have brutalised both of them, gradually turning hatred of each other into a shared quest and something even deeper. This remarkable film may be set in days long gone, but it is as raw and relevant today as ever. It is about violence - towards women and Indigenous people, and the entitled attitudes of power-hungry men. This is one of the most difficult films to watch; director Kent decided consciously not to steer away from the brutal realities of the time, and it is done in a way that makes it most distressing yet impossible to look away from. Franciosi is a revelation - as the initially subservient convict with the voice of a nightingale, (she does her own singing) yet the determination of a hawk, she dominates the screen. Ganambarr is equally mesmerising as Billy, whose real name is Mangana, meaning a black bird, and the symbolism and mystical associations with this are beautiful. Claflin and Herriman could make you hate men forever, and in fact many of the males in this film are vile. Much consultation was done in the film's making with local Indigenous people, who approved all that is depicted, and the scenes of the confrontations between colonisers and the first peoples are absolutely chilling. Among all the disturbing moments, there are some scenes that move one to tears with their compassion, but overall the tears I shed were of fury for a world, still thriving today, where the strong feel it is their right to oppress the weak. This is probably the best (and most distressing) film I've seen so far this year; it is brilliant. (It comes with a warning for those unable to tolerate screen violence.)
5 - unmissable!

Amazing Grace
Director: Alan Elliott & Sydney Pollack
Length: 88 min

© Studio Canal - Aretha Franklin provides
an unforgettable transcendent musical experience

By the late 1960s, Aretha Franklin had a string of hits in the pop charts and was known as "The Queen of Soul". In 1972 she decided she wanted to return to her roots (she was the daughter of a Baptist preacher) and record an album of gospel songs. This was done live, with a small audience (Mick Jagger among them), over two nights in an LA Baptist church. Warner Bros decided to film the sessions with Sydney Pollack at the helm. But the film was never released due to problems post-synching the sound. Only now has technology allowed the film to reach fruition, letting viewers enjoy one of the most transcendent performances you may ever see. Although technically the film has moments of blurry camera work, who cares? The close-ups of the face of this woman giving her heart and soul to song, every rivulet of sweat, and the rapturous support of the backing choir is something you can't experience listening to a record. It is beyond moving and uplifting. The choir's conductor had me riveted on his every movement as his whole body moved with the rhythm; in fact the stunning musicianship of everyone is a revelation. The congregation's involvement is such a bonus. This film should not be missed, not only by Aretha fans, but all who love the transformative power of music, performed by those who feel it to their core.
4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended!

Dragged Across Concrete
Director: S Craig Zahler
Length: 158 min

© Icon - that overused word "gritty" is a perfect
adjective for this hard-hitting cop thriller

Cops Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughan) are suspended without pay when their stand-over tactics with a suspect are caught on video. Citing financial hardship as an incentive (his wife has MS), Ridgeman suggests they rob a known drug dealer. Through convoluted tip-offs from criminal associates, they prepare to execute their plan, only to find their quarry themselves about to commit a bank robbery. The two corrupt cops could prevent the crime but choose not to, and what transpires from there is in many ways the moral (or immoral) heart of the film. This is a particularly difficult film for me to assess. It is extremely stylish and gripping, in its own grubby way, and Vaughan and Gibson are perfect in their roles. The criminal gang are a fearsome bunch, specialists in sadistic treatment of victims, and the young black getaway driver, just released ex-con Henry (Tory Kittles), is an interesting, ethically ambiguous character. Basically, the film is extremely well crafted, with slow-burn character development and terrific dialogue. Perhaps Zahler wants us to feel repulsion at the racism, violence, misogyny and lack of integrity. But 2.5 hours of the criminal side of life, and wondering if it really enhances my life, makes me totally ambiguous in my assessment - that tricky, constant juggle between a movie's content versus its value as a piece of movie-making. So I fence sit . . .
3 - recommended! (strong, but again, not for squeamish viewers)