Category Archive: Drama Film
The Night of the Hunter
(Dir. Charles Laughton) (1955) Grimm’s Hansel and Gretel on the Ohio River, as 2 cute kids take to a skiff with stolen cash to escape their brand new stepfather (Robert Mitcham, in a sensational performance as the ‘preacher’ with “love” and “hate” tattooed on his knuckles). Lillian Gish also terrific as his adversary and Shelley Winters again assumes the role of tragic victim in this surreal pasquinade. Pure Black Magic: put this link into a search engine to watch a key scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akyxPomqAZc https://youtu.be/akyxPomqAZc?t=4
Continue Reading →Nightcrawler
(Dir. Dan Gilroy) (2014) ‘’Nightcrawling” is a term of art for paparazzi who nocturnally trawl the urban underbelly, shooting footage of mayhem for TV news (to be breathlessly shown as an exclusive, after the sanctimonious preliminaries warning “viewer discretion is advised”). Jake Gyllenhaal (see: Donnie Darko) co-produced and stars in this intriguing film as Lou Bloom, a cross between Travis Bickle, Rupert Pupkin and Carl Kolchak, surely selector’s choice for Creep/Worst Employer of the Year. To paraphrase Harold in The Boys in the Band, Lou doesn’t have charm; he has counter-charm. With no back story as such, Lou is clearly…
Continue Reading →Becket
(Dir. Peter Glenville) (1964) Henry II raises his Saxon friend to Archbishop against his friend’s very advice and then asks: who will rid me of him? Adapted from the Anouilh play, this is terrific, brilliantly shot and souped-up by Richard Burton as Becket and Peter O’Toole as the King. Burton captures the saint’s worldliness and stoic integrity that seduced and then baffled his monarch; O’Toole makes Henry authentic, likeable yet murderous.
Continue Reading →Shadowlands
(dir. Richard Attenborough) (1993) “We read to know we are not alone”…so we appreciate the intellectual tug of love between lonely but accomplished Clive Staples (Jack) Lewis of Magdalen College, Oxford and lonely precocious poet Joy Gresham (“the Jewish Christian Communist American”) in this simple, sad and beautiful film, easily Attenborough’s best (and a lot shorter than his Oscar acceptance speech for Gandhi, or so it seems). William Nicholson adapted his earlier TV and film scripts with additions based in part on the lovely book by Joy’s son, Douglas (“Lenten Lands”) and the script is wondrous – tasteful, literate and…
Continue Reading →Begin Again
(dir. John Carney) (2013) A slight, Star-is-Born vignette features thick slices of schmaltz, yet manages to say something genuine about the contemporary creative process. Gal with wafer-crisp lungs is taken on by down-at-heel Svengali – sweetness prevails but not necessarily as predicted. Keira Knightley shows considerably more charm than she did through the entire ‘Pirates’ franchise; Mark Ruffalo underacts to shaggy advantage; James Corden is everyone’s kind older brother. TVC’s favourite bits: I) Keira’s lover returns from L.A. and plays her his new song, whereupon she instantly apprehends he has fallen for another; II) Ruffalo drops his still respected business…
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