December 16th
Tim Minchin: Back
Kompromat
Best of Enemies (streaming on Netflix)
A Jazzman's Blues (streaming on Netflix)
As the year winds down and we gear up for the Christmas releases, there are still a few worthy viewing options coming online and into cinemas. (Unfortunately I haven't caught the latest Avatar . . . yet.) Race issues loom large in two Netflix offerings, while music lovers shouldn't miss Tim Minchin's latest film. There's also a taut French thriller for fans of that genre.
Tim Minchin: Back
Dir: Matt Askem
Length: 140 mins
TIM MINCHIN: BACK is vailable to own or rent on all major digital
platforms now
 |
| © Universal - TimMinchin is a talent extraordinaire |
After a six-year break doing film, musicals, theatre and more, in 2018 much-loved Australian performer Tim Minchin announced he would return to touring his musical comedy show. During the UK leg of the tour, his performance was filmed at Shepherds Bush, and those who missed it here in Oz now have an opportunity to see it. Some people may think watching a live concert on a screen lacks something, but this brilliant Tim Minchin film makes you feel even closer to the genius than you would be rows back in a theatre seat. Tim begins solo, revisiting old songs, performing new songs, then bringing in his band of consummate musicians. He blends his genres, throws in plenty of biting comedy, and reveals how he is at once sensitive, gross, poetic, hilarious, and clever, while being a wordsmith and piano player extraordinaire. Make sure to have your best concentration hat on, as the lyrics require serious attention to get the most out of this. A beautifully executed film on every level, (great lighting and close-ups). If you weren't a fan before it should turn you immediately into a card-carrying Minchin lover. 4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended
Kompromat
Dir: Jerome Salle
Length: 115 mins
 |
© Palace - thrilling and very frightening -
don't get yourself in this sittuation! |
Matthieu (Gilles Lellouche) works for Alliance Francaise. He accepts a job as a diplomat, sent to Irkutsk in Siberia to promote French culture. After staging a provocative ballet, he falls foul of the Russian authorities who devise a kompromat; that is, a bunch of trumped up charges to get rid of him. It soon becomes apparent his embassy cannot help him, and his only option is to escape. Salle based the idea for his film upon the actual situation of a foreigner being targeted and set up by the Russians. In interviews, he speaks of the violence and repression inherent in Russian society, all the more apparent with current developments in that country. Just as Matthieu is blind to the huge gulf between the cultural sensibilities of Russians and French, so he is blind to the breakdown in his marriage. His only help comes in the form of Svetlana (Joanna Kulig), married to a maimed soldier, the son of a high-up security service man. The action is relentlessly thrilling, in an authentic, no-digital-tricks way, and with an excellent cast of menacing characters on Matthieu's tail, the film makes for gripping viewing.4 - highly recommended
Best of Enemies
Dir: Robin Bissell
Length: 133 mins
Streaming on Netflix
 |
© Netflix - can black and white ever
come to an understanding? |
Ann Atwater (Taraji P Henson) is a vocal activist in her hometown of Durham North Carolina. Claiborne Ellis (known as CP and played by Sam Rockwell) is president of the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Together they co-chair a two-week long meeting in which the community debates the issue of racial integration in their schools. Bill Riddick (Babou Ceesay), a liberal northerner is brought in to chair the proceedings. Before you decry the plot as unrealistic, you need to know this is a true story, which changed the lives and attitudes of both Atwater and Ellis. Although it follows a fairly predictable story arc, the film handles important subject matter strongly and sensitively, despite the liberal use of the N-word. Rockwell gives an utterly convincing performance, such that we totally believe in his transformation. Although critics are divided, viewers seem to have enjoyed it, as did I.3.5 - well recommended
A Jazzman's Blues
Dir: Tyler Perry
Length: 127 mins
Streaming on Netflix
 |
© Netflix - racial tension and
forbidden love, against a backdrop of
juke joint music |
Bayou (Joshua Boone) grows up in the poor south with his brother Wille Earl (Austin Scott) and their mama, Hattie Mae (Amirah Vann), who runs a local juke joint. The brothers are musically gifted, but Bayou falls for local girl Leanne (Solea Pfeiffer), who although black, passes for white. The forbidden romance will color their entire lives and ultimately lead to tragedy. This is a very traditionally crafted movie, starting in 1987 with Hattie Mae reporting a murder, then flashing back to the late 1940s, where the main story takes place. Despite a few annoyingly questionable holes in the plot (how the hell can someone sing in a club without a microphone!?), the film kept me well engaged as a kind of Romeo and Juliet love story, combined with a poor boy makes good, racist southern tale. Production values are excellent, while the music makes for entertaining viewing. 3.5 - well recommended
No comments:
Post a Comment