Anonymous
Director Roland Emmerich is best known for the likes of Independence Day, the Day After Tomorrow, and 2012, so it comes as something of a shock to see him knocking out this Shakespearean thriller.
Working from Jon Orloff’s slightly crazy script, the film focuses on the authorship question surrounding Shakespeare’s work. Now, every schoolboy knows the basic rumour – Shakespeare was a hack whose work was improved (especially the tragedies) by the likes of Marlowe – but here Orloff runs amok, giving us a Jack The Ripper-style mystery with the central Macguffin going all the way to the Queen.
The script may or may not be utter nonsense in terms of its accuracy, but that doesn’t hold the cast back, especially its lead, Rhys Ifans, who turns in quite the best performance of his career. Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, and David Thewlis lend solid gold support.
Where Shakespeare In Love presented a Hollywood Elizabethan London, Emmerich miraculously conjures a gritty evocation of the capital without resorting to buckets of shit being thrown from windows (every member of the cast has dirty fingers); the production design is spot on, and the cinematography from Anna Foerster is good as anything you’d expect from a mid-90s BBC costume drama, working with the limited light provided by sunlight through windows and candlelight.
If nothing else, this is a ripping yarn that every kid should be compelled to watch because Shakespeare and his time is brought to life with such vibrance, and it highlights the importance and the power of great art.
Score: 7/10
The Awakening
This classy British super natural chiller highlights Rebecca Hall’s credentials as a leading actress (a BAFTA nom will surely be her reward) and heralds the arrival of great British director in the shape of debutant Nick Murphy.
Post-WW I, Hall is a ghost-hunter/ghost-debunker called in by a boys’ school to solve the riddle of the recent death of one of its pupils. His death seems linked to a death that happened many years before, and the school is rife with rumours/sightings of a ghost. Hall’s Florence Cathcart is a thoroughly modern woman, educated and emancipated, yet haunted by her own demons. And thus as she strives to solve the mystery at the school, so she must unravel the riddle of her own life.
The tension builds throughout, and there are chills and shocks aplenty – Sneezy next to me spent much of the film hiding behind her scarf. However, Murphy and co-writer Stephen Volk are not as successful at achieving the emotional highs that would help lift this more than commendable effort into the territory owned by The Sixth Sense and The Others. Indeed, the precision evident throughout the film is cast aside in the final act as the story and characters’ journeys unravel somewhat.
The work of cinematographer Eduard Grau (who shot A Single Man) certainly helps Murhpy realise his cinematic ambitions in full (there’s no hint of his TV background here), bringing great compositions and use of light and darkness to the fore.
Score: 7.5/10
This Must Be The Place
And thus my 2011 London Film Festival concluded with a whimper rather than a bang. Sean Penn’s presence in the lead was the hook, but it’s not enough.
Penn plays a washed-up, retired rock star (part Robert Smith from the Cure, part Michael Jackson) living in Dublin, who returns to the States on family business, bent on discovery, redemption and revenge.
The early scenes in Dublin are amusing enough, but, as soon as Penn’s Stateside roadtrip begins, the film loses its drive and its charm. Supporting perfrmances and cameos from Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch, Harry Dean Stanton, and David Byrne add lustre, but little else.
For such arty whimsy, the film is far too long (and loses a point as a result). This is really for hardcore Penn fans only.
Score: 4/10
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